Daviemies has a very valid point - not everyone has their browser maximized and particularly people with bigger screens, I've seen they tend to NOT have it maximized, so you DO need to be careful.

I build websites for doctor's offices, and MY stats show a higher percentage of 800x600 users, and I suspect that's because a lot of older folks who are looking for healthcare are NOT using the higher resolutions.

Considering stats given above which are pretty similar percentage-wise to what my site get, i think building a website with fluid web design and min width set to 750px - 760px would be the best option.

i agree with a lot of people who say that 1024x768 is the most used resolution these days, accounting to about 60% of the traffic in the world. say, for example, it holds true for your website also.60% is a lot! but what about the other 40%? can you ignore the other 40%? no, i dont think so.
so what i would suggest is to use a fluid design with the help of css. set a minimum width of 750px and a maximum width of 950px, so that it will look good at all resoultions. and, yeah, dont forget to center the layout or it will look odd.

Best screen size for web site with rules (only my idea)

1. Business, Services:
800x600
2. Blogs, Forums:
1024*768

3. Other:
1024*768 or 800x600 if you thinks it best for you and your customer :d
Regards

You goal should be to ensure that everybody out there is able to view your website properly, irrespective of your target demographic. For that, always make it in the lowest possible resolution which these days s 800x600.

Originally Posted by Skeddles

1024x768 63.69%
1280x1024 25.63%
800x600 4.66%
1440x900 2.14%
1152x864 1.94%
1680x1050 0.78%
Other 0.58%
1920x1200 0.58%

thats what my site gets

How were you able to determine this?

Originally Posted by LadynRed

Fixed widths are always done to fit on an 800x600 resolution. 8x6 isn't dead yet and if you're building sites professionally, you simply cannot alienate a portion of an audience.

Agree with that. But we must admit that technology grows very fast...

Okay, "some" still uses the 800x600 resolution... but "most" users are now using the 1024x768 or 1280x1024 screen resolutions...

design for 8x6 with fluid layout ... usually anyway .. I have come across a couple of scripts that have caused me problems with anything larger

Starlord

There are many types of websites which need a fixed width as opposed to the variable or fluid width sites. Monitors are getting progressively wider and resolutions are increasing. A lot of the statistics on popular screen resolutions are already out of date so some guesswork is probably in order. As of this date, November of 2008, the best fixed website size is probably about 900 x 762. The 800 x 600 users will have to do a small horizontal scroll, a minor inconvenience. However, larger screen users will appreciate this size and probably wont mind that the site is not filling up their entire screen. There is also the factor of download time. Larger graphics will take longer to download which is one reason why I don't feel comfortable about exceeding 900 pixel width.

1024x768 is the standard but

It depends on your target group. I have one site that is most IE6 and 800x600.

You have to understand your target group.

No way would I do anything larger than 1024x768.

Maybe next year.

I gave up on 800 x 600 friendly designs. I'm now designing for 1024x768 as my maximum (950px usually).

I'm sorry but there is just too much valuable space to be wasting. The internet is full of rich media now, not font tags with a side nav