MUST READ - Landscape or portrait? The fluid widths of smartphones and tablets give publishers two layout headaches to deal with as reading styles change. 

Smashing Magazine explains what a fluid width is:

‘In a fluid website layout, also referred to as a liquid layout, the majority of the components inside have percentage widths, and thus adjust to the user’s screen resolution.’

Unlike traditional newspapers, mobile publications have fluid widths which allow the reader to toggle between landscape and portrait view. The trick is to keep the content readable in both reading options. For example, the site shown on the left has customised layouts to suit different reading patterns. Generally, the outlook stays the same but the grid has been tweaked slightly. 

Still skeptical about jumping into mobile publishing? Media companies should not desert any news platform. Nic Jones, Managing Director of News Interactive was quoted in an article published in The Australian saying, ‘You have to care about each one equally… We are a content manufacturer. We’re not a newspaper company, not a TV company, we are a media company’ (MacLean 2005).

Image source: Graphicdesignblender.com

——-
Reference

MacLean, S 2005, ‘Print learns to love the web’, The Australian, 24 April 2011, pp. 15, 19. 

——- 

Related video post: Paid news apps - how successful are they?
Related post: Designing for mobile phones and tablets