Another reason to center a site's content - it seems that some people could not stand having a huge chunk of white space, and must resize their browser to eliminate the white space before focusing on the content. From [Choosing the Right Search Results Page Layout: Make the Most of Your Width][1]: > In my field research, I’ve observed people’s reactions to the large, > empty spaces that appear on the right in fixed-width layouts. All that > space devoid of content causes what I can only describe as pixel > agoraphobia. When that space first opens up, people usually grimace > and attempt to reduce the width of the window to remove some of the > empty space. Most Windows users who have maximized their browser > window do this by clicking the Restore Down button on the window title > bar. This sometimes results in a window size that is too small for a > site, so users must then adjust the window size manually. When your > customers are busy fiddling with the width of the browser window, > they’re not shopping or looking at ads on your site. In fact, they’re > usually becoming more and more irritated—and that’s before they’ve > even begun interacting with your Web site’s fabulous functionality! [1]: http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2009/03/choosing-the-right-search-results-page-layout-make-the-most-of-your-width.php