Is 1024 * 768 the new 800 * 600??

buddy

Should we still be designing sites for 800 * 600 users? Are the majority now not using at least 1024 * 768?

Dangerman posted this link in his thread:

http://www.upsdell.com/BrowserNews/stat_trends.htm

64% 1024 * 768
36% 800 * 600
<1% 640 * 480

36% is high, damnit!!

Discuss.

(Disclaimer: I didn't see this recently, sorry if its been mentioned before).

phlebas

I have a simple stat tracker on the site i'm currently stumbling through and sofar a good 25% have been using 800x600, so if that one in four ratio is in anyway applicable to the greater mass of web users I guess it's still pretty much a neccesity to at least make a site manageable on 800x600.

fletch

Don't know anybody that uses 800*600. Everyone I know uses "at least" 1024*768

ballooba

Personally I think that 800*600 is pure hideous.

You have to consider though that a lot of old people (40+ :P ) use 800*600 because of their eyesight.

case_sensitive

Yeah, much as I'd love to say 800x600 is dead, I have 20+ users here that have 15" screens and can barely read 8x6 on a bad day, not to mind 1024x768. Not a one of them is over 30. There's two girls with 17" TFT screens running what res? Yep, you guessed it...

gary_s

Remember, screen resolution (which most stats are for) is NOT the same thing as browser resolution.

For example, my work PC screen resolution is 1600 x 1200, but since many/most(?) fixed-width sites are no wider than 800 pixels, my browser width is no more than 900 pixels (why make it bigger when it's just going to be displaying white space on so many sites)?

True though, my home PC is 1024 x 768, so I DO maximise my browser window, because it's almost max size anyway at 800 x 600.

Another option is to do a "liquid" layour that stretches between 800 and 1024 pixels wide, depending on the user's browser width.

buddy

Yeah, the liquid layer works for some sites but not all

I just hate designing sites for 800 * 600 and seeing it look tiny on a friends/relations PC.

Seth Brundle

home pc:- 1024 * 768
work:- 800 * 600 (necessary)

gary_s

buddy wrote:

I just hate designing sites for 800 * 600 and seeing it look tiny on a friends/relations PC.

One way to make 800 look wider than 800 on a bigger browser window is to center the page contents, and have a slightly busy background graphic (or even just a different colour) on either side.

dangerman

It's a pickle, but as on my thread which you talked about res can be a thorny enough issue.

I got a bit of criticism with the higher-res users for the amount of white-space on my site . It was set to 700 pixels wide in total, but granted the actual content was only 450 or so. In the end I just added to it to up it to 780 in total [but i doubt that really made the higher-res users happy], but there's no way I'd develop a site which goes over the 800 width barrier just yet.

Of course a way to compromise is to have the site resize to fit browser windows, but if your a stickler for controlling how text scrolls and looks like me, then you may not like this option.

buddy

Centering the webpage is a trademark of mine, it does help. I do try to use a diff backgrund but like dangerman I think a white background has its uses.

My own site use's table's that widen with the browser but for site's other people want I want it to look the same all the time so stick to width in the 700's.

forbairt

still needs to be 800 x 600 I reckon ..

those users who have bigger screens I find a lot of the time have their browsers windowed and they hate having to go full screen ...

again its like saying I don't support IE cus it doesn't support the standards let them use a compliant browser ... design so it works with the minimum spec up ...

that said .. 640x480 is dead :P

RicardoSmith

Well the only statistic that really matters is those that you pull from your own traffic. But as an aside I'm doing a project at the moment in a large company where I get to look at the display settings of hundreds of users. From what I've seen the following is usual.

15" CRT - haven't seen any.
17" CRT - Most screens are this size and are 1024x768 a few are 800x600
19"+ CRT - Next most common size. 1280x1024 usually, with a few higher.

15" CRT's - Only seen a handful 1024x768.
17" TFT's - none seen.
19"+ TFT's - none seen.

THis is a large corporate. In the home enviroment I'd say you see more 15" TFT now, but the bulk of them would be 17" CRT's still. Larger monitors would be rare enough at home.

I have seen a awful lot of laptops, and almost all of them are 15" 1024x768 screens. In the home theres a big increase in people with laptops too. There are new laptops with bigger screens but I'd say theres not too many of them.

andersde10

I'd have to say that best practice if at all posible is to design without any resolution in mind. If you stop designing sites with layout tables and move towards CSS and XHTML then you'll find this a much easier task. With this approach your designs should work across all screen resolutions - including PDA's and new mobile phone, they'll also continue to work as screen resolutions move higher and higher.

buddy

Do you have examples of such sites? Thx.

andersde10

There's loads of them out there but here's some:
http://www.mozilla.org/
http://www.wired.com
http://www.lookout.ie - my own one, still in development so no slagging

RicardoSmith

andersde10 wrote:

I'd have to say that best practice if at all posible is to design without any resolution in mind. If you stop designing sites with layout tables and move towards CSS and XHTML then you'll find this a much easier task. With this approach your designs should work across all screen resolutions - including PDA's and new mobile phone, they'll also continue to work as screen resolutions move higher and higher.

Hes right you know.... :eek: