I'm looking to code a wordpress blog and was wondering what would be the best/maximum width that I should design for, considering that most people have moved away from 800x600 screen dimensions? Thank you
Take into account 1024 minus the scrollbar, but if the site has a nice designed background then it must be visible, so 900-960px would be the best.
I agree, it's safe to go above 800px width now, but I wouldn't go assume more than 1024 yet. But it's also good to make sure the site doesn't look too stupid on wider resolutions.
Do something like: min-width: 850px; max-width: 1500px; When designing using %'s for a fluid design. So that people still with 860px monitors, or people with 1024px monitors and have gadgets like sidebars which takes away a good 200-300px from their window size, also means that people with large monitors are getting a good view also, i'm not too sure about the value 1500px as i've never set a max-width really. If you are not using %'s, and can't be bothered with fluid designs, then personally i'd go for about 900px, so that most people will never have to scroll horizontally, it fit's nicely with the main standard 1024px with a gap either side. However with this smaller screens have to scroll horizontally, and larger screens have a lot of empty space!!
I can think of several options. Two options that immediately come to mind are: 1) Make your width 990px which is best for 1024 and above screen. This allows 30px (and some) for your scroll bar if your content extends down past the frame of the immediate window. 2) You can detect what screen size the user has set and redirect to a page/site built for that screen size. I prefer the first option personally.
Thanks, I'm a complete novice with coding so I think this time around, I'm going to go with a fixed width design. I'm copying to bookmark this thread, down the road, I'll try a fluid design. Just curious if you have a couple of urls with sample fluid blog designs that I can take a look at.
If you are choosing fixed, then you have to ask yourself the following question: Who will be visiting my site If your answer is gamers, then design for a 1024px wide resolution. If your answer is a fair few older people, then I'd stick with designing for 800px. Lots of them don't have new computers because there is simply no need - their computer handles word processing, general web browsing and emailing just fine. But like anything, you can never make everyone happy
I'd go with 990px, but make sure your site still looks okay in 800px. I usually do this by having a column on the far right that doesn't show up in the 800x600 unless you scroll right, but in that column I wouldn't put anything essential like the navigation menu... But, for a small site having a 800 or so width centered looks nice in larger screen resolutions too...
Agreed. I don't know why people bitch about it all the time. Personally I love white space. It also helps when the website is hideous and burns my eyes, I have nice, calming white space either side to look at