Examine the existing layout to determine critical flaws. A critical flaw is any flaw or error that will result in making the layout be printed, published or viewed incorrectly. Assuming the layout design is satisfactory, a critical flaw is a factor that prevents the satisfactory design from working as designed.
Determine your options for solving the problem. In a physical design such as a document that will be printed, a critical flaw may be a border that prints too close to the side of the paper when the paper will later be folded or punched. Moving the border may be one option; enlarging the size of the finished document may be a second option. After the options have been identified, select the option that works best for the project.
Fix a noncritical flaw by moving text, borders, images or other materials. A noncritical flaw may be a webpage in which the navigation buttons are incorrectly positioned flush left when they would look better centered. In this type of layout the webpage designer will rewrite the positioning code for the buttons, to move them into the position that is preferred.
Correct a stabilizing problem. A stabilizing layout problem occurs when a layout is created on one computer using a particular software program. When the layout is viewed on a different computer the default settings of the second computer change the layout so that items are in different locations, are a different font, shape or color. To prevent the second computer from seeing a different layout the layout has to be stabilized. To stabilize the layout the document may be saved as a PDF or other file type that prevents the second computer from using its default preferences when viewing the file.
Improve a webpage that has stabilization problems by tightening up the coding or language that describes the webpage. By giving a browser less choices the webpage designer has better control over how each webpage will be viewed. To check their layout design it is a good idea to view the test page through several different computers, operating systems and browsers so that any changes in the layout can be corrected for by the designer.