Many people want “skinny” Myspace layouts. Why? When your friends leave big picture comments, your layout can expand off the screen, and you get the dreaded horizontal scrollbar.

How do you get more room, to make your layout skinny? Start with a basic CSS layout code that already works, and try these simple changes:

First, try smaller fonts. With smaller fonts, Myspace can squeeze more information into less space, leaving you more room for larger pictures. To do this to your existing layout, wherever you see the text “font-size”, lower the numbers. For example: “font-size:10px;” will get you small text that is still readable.

Next, you want to reduce the “padding” between the various boxes on your page. This is the best way to get more space for your pictures. Anywhere you see “padding” or “margin” in your layout code, make the numbers smaller, or even try zero, like this: padding:0px;

If you took out your padding and now your layout looks crowded, try taking out the borders. The Myspace designers gave you boxes with borders–you don’t need them. Set your border-style’s to “none” like this: border-style:none;

Let me know if these tips were helpful.