Distributed by Newspaper Enterprise Association, the cartoon series was noted for its depiction of American rural life and the various activities and regular routines of families in small towns.

[1] The panel introduced a cast of continuing characters, including the cowboy Curly and ranch bookkeeper Wes.

[4][5] The content of Out Our Way was based on Williams' own life experiences, as noted by Michael H. Price in the Fort Worth Business Press: Cartooning can become a higher art, if motivated by urges greater than rattling off an easy gag or beating the next deadline.

The feature draws upon the writer-artist's personal background as a muleskinner (and industrial machinist, and prizefighter, and family man) in ways that make the individual episodes — each self-contained panel suggesting a larger story — as resonant today as when new ..."It was just this little knack I'd developed for drawing things," Williams told The Saturday Evening Post in 1953.

Williams' range of experiences, coupled with a gentle sarcasm and a keen observational sense, made his work unique.

[6]Williams used Out Our Way as an umbrella title for several alternating series, which carried the subtitle hand-lettered within the panel border.

These included The Bull of the Woods, with gags focusing on the foreman of a machine shop, and a depiction of small town family life in Why Mothers Get Gray.