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Stretchy pages do make sense, as everyone can read the page no matter what resolution or window size he (or she of course) uses.
People nowadays use higher screen resolutions like they did 2 years ago, a resolution of 1024x768 pixels is more or less standard. And there is nothing as annoying as a page that glues to the left of your screen with 740 pixels width and a blank white rectangle using up the rest of your monitor.
This shiny white unused space is not only wasted when it comes to offering info and advertisements to the user, it is also straining the reader's eyes unnecessarily.
Black on white is good in print, as the eye recognizes the copy as a reflection, light makes the paper readable for us. Monitors, however, send light into the eye and thus make it 10 times more tiring to read longer texts.
This effect increases with the amount of whitespace used. Using the whole screen allows you to use longer texts, as you are not dependent on the pixel dimensions anymore. It simply makes the page appear more compact.
Just make sure to set a certain limit to the width of the copy. Lines that exceed a certain length are tiring to read all the same. Find a solution that keeps the page flexible, but does not display the text on one line for users running very high screen resolutions.
And where is the catch?
Table of contents:
What are "stretchy" pages?
The advantages of stretchy pages
Problems with stretchy pages
How to make stretchy pages
How to design stretchy pages?
What does it mean for HTML Programming?
Are stretchy pages heavier than non stretchy ones?