Myspace layouts
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
MySpace Layouts are web page templates used to customize one's profile on the popular social networking site MySpace.
[edit] Introduction
Layouts are an interesting aspect of MySpace for several reasons:
- Much of the popularity of MySpace is attributed to the freedom that it gives its users to customize their profiles using HTML, CSS, and Flash; Javascript is not allowed.
- Overall, the design quality of MySpace layouts is a subject of much criticism and consternation in the web community; for example, amongst web designers.
- The term 'MySpace layout' is among the most popular search terms.
[edit] Structure
The HTML structure of a profile is the same for all users. That structure contains these notable points:
- Very few DOM elements have IDs, and therefore very few elements are individually addressable using CSS rules. If you change a CSS rule, you will typically end up changing the appearance of more than one section. This makes it quite challenging to fine tune a profile.
- In a typical layout template, a considerable amount of impact is implemented by setting the background image of the entire page.
[edit] Constraints
Any design for a myspace layout is subject to these constraints:
- All code (whether HTML, CSS, or Flash) must be entered in the same sections where normal textual information is entered on a profile: sections with names like Interests, About Me, Who I'd like to Meet, etc.
- There is no way to modify the DOM tree other than by inserting DOM elements into the section where the code itself is entered. In other words, if you want to add DOM elements (like an table, for example) outside of the sections that allow text input, you cannot.
- You can modify DOM elements outside of where the code exists via CSS.
