In chapter 19 of Designing with Web Standards, Josef Muller-Brockmann is mentioned as being the father of the modern layout. He is the father of the modern layout because he inspired a blog layout wider than the typical 800 x 600 with multiple columns of text. This new layout is great because a lot of monitors nowadays are larger and wider than they used to be, so it looks better to spread the content out in the extra usable space. The layout gained so much popularity and credibility that Khoi Vinh used it for his personal website (http://www.subtraction.com). While a 800 x 600 layout may look fine on a small monitor, it looks like a silly waste of space on larger ones. You have all this extra white space or unneeded background space on either side, and you may have to scroll down too much. When you can make use of that extra space by making multiple readable columns in a larger layout, not only will the website look better, but a user won’t get as board with it. Small Layout Scrapbook could have benefited from using a wider layout, as right now it’s relatively skinny, and users have to scroll a lot to see the content. Grid and Column Designs, however, makes better use of the screen space, and uses multiple columns to fit more content in less amount of vertical space.
Josef Muller-Brockmann used such layouts in his prints and advertisements, too, one of my favorites being an ad for Musica Viva. This ad used what looks like either a 3 x 3 or 3 x 4 grid layout, and has wonderful contrast and balance, while making wonderful use of space.
rwingender 