Learning to Let Go is a site that hosts a PHP script that allows users to customize the layout and look of a site. On first glance, I like several things about it, most notably:
- The general premise of "letting go". There's only so much you should control in Web design.
- The customization form, itself, is accessible.
- The How To page seems fairly straight forward and simple to implement.
My minor gripes are:
- The colors are specified in hexidecimal numbers. Using color names would be more user friendly.
- On the customization page, I'd like to see more than one link back to the main page of the site. They do a great job of linking back to the form from the example layout (at the bottom of the customization page). I wish they'd done an equally good job of integrating other navigational links.
- The default page width is 800 pixels wide. I'm typically against using fixed layout widths. I use percentage widths whenever appropriate and feasible. Fixed widths work fine when you know what hardware and settings your visitors will have, but if you don't know that, you should be flexible so you can accommodate a wide variety of configurations.
The big question for me is, how many people would use this script if it was on a site? Based on my experience, I've found that only a small percentage of users customize pages, and those who do probably already know how to adjust font sizes, background colors, etc., using their browser. Despite that concern, this script is definitely worth trying. I applaud the creator, Chris Heilmann, and the other contributors for their efforts to improve the Web experience for all people.