Amending a design from fixed to proportional layout
Typically, for the foreseeable future, any design composite you receive or create will have fixed dimensions. Currently we measure (in pixels) the element sizes, margins, and so on within the graphics files from Photoshop, Fireworks, and so on. We then punch these dimensions directly into our CSS. The same goes for text sizes. We click on a text element in our image editor of choice, note the font size, and then enter it (again, often measured in pixels) into the relevant CSS rule. So how do we convert our fixed dimensions into proportional ones?
A formula to remember
It's possible I'm coming off too much of an Ethan Marcotte fan boy, but at this point it's essential that I provide another large tip of the hat (it should probably be a bow, maybe even a kneel) to him. In Dan Cederholm's excellent book, Handcrafted CSS, Mr. Marcotte contributed a chapter covering fluid grids. In it, he provided a simple and consistent formula for converting...
