Layout Designer 2 — points to watch
Overlapping layers
One of the problems with fluid web page design is that layers can end up overlapping each other. If that's likely to happen, it probably means you need to rethink your design, but LD2 - Screen does have one handy feature that will prevent a layer aligned to the right hand side of the browser window coming too far to the left. When "Right Window Edge" is selected as the Alignment Method, the Min Left Pos(px) box becomes active. Enter the width of any content you don't want to be overlapped by your layer, and it will not move any further to the left, however narrow the browser window is made.
Unfortunately, there isn't a similar method to prevent layers aligned to the bottom edge of the screen moving too high, so use aligment to the bottom edge with care.
Accessible layout
Because LD2 is so versatile, there's a temptation to leave everything to it, and throw normal design common sense out of the window. Some people set the left and top positions of all layers on their page to 0px, thinking it's tidier. Actually, it's a crazy strategy. Although LD2 will rearrange the page as intended virtually every time, what about when visitors to your site have JavaScript disabled? Or what about your JavaScript files becoming corrupted or accidentally deleted?
The most sensible strategy is to lay out your page so that it looks acceptable even without LD2 working its magic. Then use LD2 to fine tune your design. If you do that, your site will always remain presentable.
Also give some thought to people who may visit your site with a text-only browser, a screen reader or a Braille reader. Make sure that the content of your page is presented to them in a logical order.
Keep all events in a logical order, too
If you find LD2 not producing the results you expected, the first thing to check is the order of events in the Behaviours panel. Think of the sequence in which the page is being laid out from top to bottom. Some browsers may be able to redraw the page regardless of the order of events, but you should never count on it. Think back to the example on the previous page. First position LayerA using LD2-Screen, then align LayerB to it with LD2-Layers. Make sure that's the order in the Behaviours panel. If not, use the up and down arrows on the right hand side of the panel to adjust it.
Problems with some pop-up blocking utilities
Layout Designer 2 relies on using JavaScript onLoad events. Some pop-up blocking utilities (such as Zone Alarm) don't take too kindly to such behaviours, and simply refuse to load any elements that rely on them. To get round this problem, it is strongly recommended to use the technique described in Project Seven's faQBase.
Getting rid of the ugly jump when the page loads
The dynamic behaviour of LD2 can be very disconcerting to visitors when they suddenly see everything jumping into place once the page finishes loading. A very simple and elegant solution to this is to make all layers that you plan to move hidden, use LD2 to move them into place, and then use PVII's Autolayers to reveal them. Again, make sure the order of events in the Behaviours panel is correct:
Autolayers uses onClick as its default event. Change it to onLoad, and it should automatically move to the bottom of the list. If it doesn't, use the arrows at the top right of the panel to move it into the correct position.
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