Hello!
What would you say is the best screen size of a website. I've just started on a new one, but i know it wont fit on most monitors. Mine is set to 1280 x 960 which makes it hard to judge on smaller resolution. I hate changing it as is messes with my icons .
So, what's a good size to use in this age?

Know your target market if done so you may have an idea what size are you going to set for creating a website.

Example: If your target market are people around ages 40 and above or living in provinces, I may suggest that you should set a width that will not exceed more than 780px as most of them are still using a 800x600 resolution.

Originally Posted by wiredfreak

Know your target market if done so you may have an idea what size are you going to set for creating a website.

Example: If your target market are people around ages 40 and above or living in provinces, I may suggest that you should set a width that will not exceed more than 780px as most of them are still using a 800x600 resolution.

I think that's slightly incorrect. Most 40 year olds have relatively good computers - whether because they know plenty about technology or because of their children. 1024 x 768 is probably average for this age group. 20 to 30 year olds, particularly people who are addicted to technology may have much larger resolutions, in excess of 1280 x 1024.

Interesting question, Ive wondered the same thing. I actually don't browse the internet with a maximized screen. Wondered if that was common as well...

lol - just went through this same problem... I use a maximized screen setting, or I should say used to. It took some getting used to but I forced myself back to how the rest of the world sees the internet.

1024 X 768 is the most used screen resolution:

You can do a quick google search for all these kinds of things - most used browser, version, screen resolution...

The truth of the matter really lies in your own stats... Every niche market holds a different kind of internet user. If your creating a technical blog, chances are your "customers" are going to be savvy surfers...

If you don't have a site up already I would say go web standard 1024 x 768

Then once you have gotten a good deal of traffic from multiple sources, it would be a good idea to take a tally of your web traffic stats to see what your users use for browsers and screen resolutions.

Aaron

1024 x768 appears today to be one of the most common, but beware there are users out there who have smaller resolution monitors. I come across these regularly in my role as an IT lecturer in the wider community (not so much with my in college students). It's a case of know your audience. Why make it a fixed size anyway, well designed pages shold be able to be correctly viewed in a variety of resolutions.

Mine is set to 1280 x 960

I don't think that is the best design, it is too large for most people.

My suggestions:
- Design it for 1024x768 screen resolution (best view for more than 50% users). Do some researches and you will see people love this design.
- 779px width or 100% width (for all users)

Visit my forum , I designed it 779px width center. Make the header 100% width + white body background, no border. That make the page doesn't looks too small in large screen resolutions.

I need to fix the footer a litte bit for firefox, don't have times for that yet.

not everyone has their browser maximised either; in fact if you think about it if you have a large monitor running at high res (say 1280 wide and above) then it's quite likely you might only have your browser(s) open at say 1024 or 999 or... so that you an see a couple of other applications open at the same time.

I think it depends on your site or the design... But I would suggest bigger resolutions... It's because few people browse the internet on small computers or small monitor resolution...

But I would suggest bigger resolutions... It's because few people browse the internet on small computers or small monitor resolution...

I only WISH that were true, but it's not. I still design my sites to a MINIMUM of 800x600 and no more than 1000 wide if doing a fluid design. 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.

and even if it were true, would really want to annoy the hell out of any percentage of your target audience?!

You can use an X-treme tracker, and it tells you everything about the people who view your site. Such as the most common browser/resolution/OS. I have it on my site and it really helps.

Keep to 800x600. you go to any office and you will find there still using them tiny screens.

Originally Posted by Millions

Keep to 800x600. you go to any office and you will find there still using them tiny screens.

Are you sure about that? I'd guess that most people are now on 1024 x 768. 800 x 600 is mostly dead imo. Of course, if doing fixed designs, you only want to create the main area at about 900 or so pixels as you've got to take in the space used by the toolbars and the scrollbar etc.

*sigh*

I miss the good ol' days when 800x600 was the standard.

IMO 1024x768 would be the best screen resolution.. cuz a lot of sites are using it and it looks great too.. bigger than that and you might find yourself in a pretty hectic situation

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

1024x768 is right!!
Thats what i use for most of my websites.

"1024x768 is right!!"

well no, it's not if you have anyone using 800 x 600.
and to reiterate not everyone has their browser maximised, so isn't necessarily as wide as their screen res.

one of the biggest user annoyances is horizontal scrolling so if you can avoid why do it?!!

1024 x 768 is most used resolution nowadays but consider the people who are still using 800x600 resolution. Make your website user-friendly by satisfying your visitors (eliminating bad web usabilities) and might as well become a potential client.

that's my 2 cents!