This is really a very deep subject because layouts are as varied as the world is round! The basis of a good general layout lies in observing the following basic ideas:

• Accomodation;
  Whatever strange, wild new method of displaying content you embrace, it has to be backed up with a plain-jane version of the same thing, arranged in the traditional (yuck- kind of like these pages!) fashion for those who aren't inclined to update. Not everyone has the ability, hard drive space or time to waste upgrading their machine to install the latest bloatware browser- this doesn't mean they don't have good money to spend on more worthwhile and less frustrating pursuits! It's really desireable to offer a 2-version model, no matter what sort of style, plugin or scripting (server or client-browser program) you want shown on your premium version!

• Transparency
  To account for substandard browsers and screen resolutions, your sites layout should be intelligent, that is, it has to detect the users browser or user-agent (tech talk for detecting what browser's a-calling) and automatically send these conservative folks to the plain site! It's wonderful to offer fabulous enhancements to your site, but you cut your nose off to spite your face if you sink to the level of the browser warriors and turn off innocent visitors. Your main welcome or splash page is the best place to do this, or you can do it within your site as needed.

• Continuity
  Keep the same cues in place on every document so users can always quickly return to the main menu area. No one appreciates having to hop back through numerous layers of menus to retrace their steps. Newer browsers offer shortcuts in their forward and back functions, but these are also troubled by framed sub-page quirks and individual page title identification. It's also a good practice to update the main navigation menu on each page, so that the current pages link is removed, and visited links are properly updated.

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