Max width for a basic HTML site?

Hi and thanks for reading!

I would like to know what would be the preferred max width for a basic HTML site.

Currently my site is built into a container of 850 px and has two divs in it: one for the menu (210 px) and one for the content (600 px) which together of course leave a bit margin space.

Well, now I would like to add another menu on the other side (right) of the content box (600 px) and am wondering whether I should widen the whole site (container) or not.

What would be the best possible width for a site this day? According to W3C 85.1 % of Internet users have a higher resolution than 1024x768 px.

So how far could I go widening the container? 990 px? 1000 px? I have heard some people referring to magical 960 px width - what's that?

Thanks for your answers!

 

Good article for ya' here: http://www.chriseverson.net/the-magic-of-960px/

 

960px is the way to go for fixed width.

 

you can use 960 grid system if you want to make your life easy when designing website.In my opinion 960px width is the perfect size for most of the monitors. If you don't want to use their built in framework you can always use their template when designing. http://www.960.gs

 

I agree with everyone, 960px is definitely the safest way to go.

 

I always use 960px for width in our designs..makes for a great fit on the screen and not to squashed in!

 

960px but i often prefer float layouting

 

nowadays more people use higher resolutions but you still have to keep those in mind who use lower screen resolutions. On average just to be safe I normally design sites that are roughly 950 pixels wide give or take.

 

safe screen is 960px for desktop devices