I've been developing websites for a few years now... The web has changed a lot through out the years. I usually design websites with a fixed width for a 800x600 screen resolution. Any larger resolutions just see a lot of dead space. I've been doing it this way for years- when I started, not many people had 1024x768 or larger. Over the years, technology has advanced but has it advanced enough to consider 1024x768 the default resolution now? Basically, do you think it is safe to develop fixed width websites for 1024x768 resolutions? Or is it still not there yet? How do you handle width issues for your website(s)? Should I look into a flexible width websites? What's the best way to do that? --------- I know all of this is more of an opinion based question, but (if you check your website logs) do you still get a lot of 800x600 resolution visitors? I know this has been discussed before, but not recently. Wondering if there has been any new changes?
You could always convert your layout to a fluid layout which bases widths on % if you believe that a fixed layout would be a major problem. The most widely used resolution width is 1024px. Most users either use 1024px or more, however 800 is not extinct. The Screen Resolution section of W3Counter Global Stats may help you make your decision.
Only a little part of visitors are using small monitors with 800x600 screen resolution, I make all my designs at 1024x768 right now.
So, if they're too lazy, cheap, or whatever to upgrade or resize, tough for them? Since it's such a small percentage, it's OK to not cater to them? Is that acceptable? I mean, that's what I'm trying to find out... Can I just not care about users with 800x600?
I bothered with the same question for years and I learned to simply do what the pros do, for example have an look at the apple.com webpage. They are famous for their high quality computers and Apple always represents a certain style (so you can imagine they hire only the best designers for their page). And they have width way over 800 px, which means they do not care about users with 800x600 screens. Therefore I do not care about that small percentage either because if a huge company like apple does not I am pretty sure they did more researches then any of us before they made up their decision.
I generally design with 1024 screen width in mind and quite a few other websites do the same. As for as the fixed Vs. fluid debate goes, well it’s an age old debate. No point starting old wars….
Right, I wasn't trying to go too much into the fixed or fluid debate... Just more a long the lines of what screen resolution would be a good guide for designing purposes...
My clients' sites show that about 35% of visitors use 1024x768 resolution or lower, with the rest using higher resolutions. I currently design for 1024x768, keeping vital parts of navigation towards the left side of the page.
More than 70% use 1024 x 768 About 20% use 1280 x 1024 About 3% use 800 x 600 My suggestion: if you are building websites to sell stuff, ignore those 3%. If they can't buy a descent PC they won't buy your product. Avoid using %, prefer px. By using % you will have to verify your site in many resolutions (laptop resolutions). It's because images and inputs have a fixed size. Use % only if you are a professional designer. Best wishes, William de Souza