One of the things I find myself doing now when setting up a new site or blog is favoring wider layouts than I did even a year ago, and it's something I think all AdSense publishers should consider now. The old web design books tell you not to go past about 550 pixels in size (for the content), but this ain't 2004 anymore. Here are some reasons:

1. Screen resolutions are higher.

Well, it's true. Older computers might still be running at 800 by 600, but higher resolutions are now the defacto norm. Especially when you consider how many people are buying widescreen monitors. Even laptops these days are going wide. Simply put, there's more horizontal real estate to use. Which means the wide AdSense ad and link unit formats can work well. And thin layouts look, well, dated.

2. Keeps more above the fold.

Look, you want visitors to click the ads, though of course you can't say that to anyone. (We'll keep it our little secret.) The wider layouts — when used properly — keep more content above the fold. And more ads above the fold. The less the visitor has the scroll, the better.

3. Better ad embedding.

Common wisdom says that the 338 by 280 large rectangle format works best (I've found it varies — test things yourself and see what works for you) when embedded right at the beginning of the content, right under the main heading, either floated to the left (my preference) or to the right. Here's the thing, though. If you've limited yourself to 550 pixels of width then that leaves only 212 pixels for the text immediately to the left or right of the ad unit. Add in whitespace and maybe a sidebar or two and you've got

text that looks like this, is therefore hard to read, and will often look ugly and break/wrap in strange places.

(If you're reading this in an RSS reader, the effect above is surely lost, so you might want to view this post in your browser to see it.) It's better to have at least the same width of space devoted to the text in question. In other words, your main content area should be 338 * 2 = 676 pixels wide. Add in a sidebar and some whitespace for margins and you're really looking at a minimum width of 850 pixels for your page to look good.

4. More whitespace!

So many layouts I come across make little or no use of whitespace. Whitespace is like silence in music — but rather than let me blither on about it, why not just read this great article instead?

Hmm, one more reason and I could have made this into another Top 5 list like my Top 5 Reasons to Marry a Geek. But no, I'm stopping at 4.

Don't be afraid to go wide with your layouts, and be sure to include lots of whitespace. I'm certainly not the only one thinking this way. Look at how many 3-column WordPress themes are showing up these days. Disney had it wrong: it's a wide world, after all.

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Eric Giguere is the author of Uncommon AdSense and the award-nominated (that just means it lost!) blog Make Easy Money with Google and AdSense.

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