My website layout is perfect, but if someone's resolution is set lower, parts will be cut off. I don't want a horizontal scroll bar. My monitor is at the highest setting (1280x1024). What's the standard here?

1280x1024 is what I test my sites on but some people might also have 800x600 resolution so you should test on that resolution as well.

You know the results of that test... the whole page is pushed to the upper left corner leaving vast tracts of empty background.

The current most-used resolution is 1024x768. 800x600 is still used by some, but it's a fairly low percentage. Making your default minimum more than 1024x768 is not a good idea. You should NEVER design for YOUR resolution, you should be designing with USERS in mind.

Thanks M'Lady. I'm in the middle of redoing everything to that rez. 3:P