More and more websites seem to be designed Bigger!

[samstephens]

Have you noticed?

Not too long ago websites used to be designed to fit onto the screen using 800x600 resolution.

These days it seems more common that sites fit onto a 1024x768 resolution.

Have you checked your stats on what screen resolutions your visitors are using?

I used Google Analytics, and it seems that 800x600 users are now a VERY small percentage, with the far majority being 1024x768 and over.

It'll be interesting to see how new designs continue to change.

cheers
Sam

[UcheO]

I think larger monitors capable of efficiently displaying these resolutions are becoming more widely available.

Prices drop on computer equipment at an alarming rate as new technology comes along.

[DonTino]

I was thinking about this today and I too think that a 1024x768 reslolution is standard by now.

800x600 is going to die out soon in my opinion. Espescially since more and more sites are designed for 1024x768
People are being forced in some way to switch to a higher resolution.

Tino

[BrianMcLeod]

Sites designed for monitor resolutions too small actually look terrible on larger displays that are more and more the norm.

Good point.

Brian

[samstephens]

Tom, that's a very good point - mobile devices. Most are running around 640 width/height, I think.

I guess it depends on what kind of site you're offering too, as some sites would be more commonly browsed by mobile devices than others.



Good point on the price drop UcheO - I bought a 24 inch widescreen a few months back for a bargain. Really nice screen too.

Gone are the days where we need to squint at tiny computer screens because the big ones are way too expensive!

cheers
Sam

The problem is some designers/website owners think most use 1024x and larger for resolution but that is not exactly true.. Really depends upon who you are targeting.

I find most of my traffic is still at 800 and I still build all my sites for 800x600 because personally I hate scrolling back and forth to read a site and 90% of the time if I must do that to read a site then I leave...

James

[samstephens]

Sites designed for monitor resolutions too small actually look terrible on larger displays that are more and more the norm.

Very true!

It seems the larger sites can display information in a much more readable way, especially for sites with a lot of different options.

cheers
Sam

[johnsamuels]

pity there isn't a forced standard for these things.

Originally Posted by samjohn

pity there isn't a forced standard for these things.

Cant be a forced thing ..lol On my eMac I run 800x600 which is perfect. On my I-Mac I run 800x600 which again is perfect but on my I-Mac Intel I run 1024 because of the size of the monitor but on there it works out perfect even with sites that are 800x600.

James

[samstephens]

Though I run 1900 x 1200, and things look a little odd sitting in the middle of the page all alone

cheers
Sam

[xmx]

I use monitor with 1024x728 resolution and I also am
referring to this resolution to build some new sites.

Last week I helped a friend of mine with a new PC and
a 24 monitor, the default resolution was much higher
than 1024x728.

Looking at my vista Help & Support files I found this:

Resolution based on monitor size
Monitor size Recommended resolution

15-inch monitor 1024 × 768
17- to 19-inch monitor 1280 × 1024
20-inch and larger monitor 1600 × 1200


cheers

Gian

[PaulSchubert]

You have brought up a good subject Sam. Web site design is actually three-fold nowadays. Whereas, a good web designer has to contemplate the possibility that the site will be viewed on either a regular/standard monitor (ie: notebook or desktop computer), a cell phone, or a handheld computer. A number of companies already utilize that technology, such as eTrade, TDAmeritrade, Bank of America, and a number of other Fortune 500 companies. There are several interesting plugins for WordPress (I'm sure you have already seen them), which allows you to display your blog on an iPhone or PDA. It is basically where we are headed in the world of electronics. Everything is going to shrink. I wrote an article for a magazine in 1987, and I predicted the hand-held electronic revolution by 2002. I was close.

Looking back, I remember around 1965 when AT&T displayed the telephone of the future in Chicago, complete with video. I also remember around the same time frame, AT&T publicizing the wristwatch telephone, complete with earphone! At the same time, GM predicted flying cars by the year 2000! Whoops, guess they got that wrong.

PAS

[Allen Graves]

From a general article directory which gets thousands of search engine hits from all different sectors. So the traffic, I would say, is a good indication of the general internet population.

Here are the stats from just this month which are pretty much the same as they are every month:



Of course, one might stipulate that most of the 800X600 visitors arrived mostly looking for inormation in a specific niche or set of niches. So to generalize this is way too risky.

BUT - if you compare the chart above to your stats from just a year or two ago, it is very apparent that most users are going smaller.

Actual visitor numbers have been blanked out due to the voraciously competitive article directory owners out there. LOL

AL

[Jesus Perez]

I can't remember the last time I designed for 800x600. Everything is 1024x768 these days.

[Adam Kenzington]

If you use XSitePro2, they have an option that with a click of a button your site will be optimized for cell phones & hand held devices, too. All the work is done for you.

[Asher]

Here's a suggestion which I used before (and due to this thread,
I might use it again, thanks!):

Instead of defining the width and length of the page to be displayed,
why not use percentage instead?

Like instead of width=700, have it as width=80%

It requires a bit of coding know-how but I think that can be
a solution to solving the issue of display.

Now, the challenge which I still haven't figured out is how
to have a MINIMUM size to display for the smaller resolutions,
and on the larger resolutions, the header graphics and stuff
should have a repetitive background.

What do you think?

Asher

[kevinw1]

We shouldn't assume that people are running their browsers full screen even if they do have >800x600 resolution, as most now do. I like to be able to see other parts of my desktop at the same time.

[Joseph Then]

Even the Warrior's Forum is set at 1000 table width. It's meant for 1024 resolution... Realize that?

[zerofill]

My top 3 resolutions for one site I was looking at are:
1024x768 33.65%
1280x800 19.71%
1440x900 14.42%

I actually fall into 1440x900...

800x600 is like 1.5% heh

[Neil Morgan]

When developing sites and software these days, I try to make the best of everyone's screen by using full width (100%) headers and footers and fixed width (usually 720px) mid-page content.

That way, no-one has huge areas of nothingness, and the important bit in the middle is accessible to the vast majority of my visitors/users.

Cheers,

Neil

[Chuck Evans]

Originally Posted by PaulSchubert

You have brought up a good subject Sam. Web site design is actually three-fold nowadays. Whereas, a good web designer has to contemplate the possibility that the site will be viewed on either a regular/standard monitor (ie: notebook or desktop computer), a cell phone, or a handheld computer. A number of companies already utilize that technology, such as eTrade, TDAmeritrade, Bank of America, and a number of other Fortune 500 companies. There are several interesting plugins for WordPress (I'm sure you have already seen them), which allows you to display your blog on an iPhone or PDA. It is basically where we are headed in the world of electronics. Everything is going to shrink. I wrote an article for a magazine in 1987, and I predicted the hand-held electronic revolution by 2002. I was close.

Looking back, I remember around 1965 when AT&T displayed the telephone of the future in Chicago, complete with video. I also remember around the same time frame, AT&T publicizing the wristwatch telephone, complete with earphone! At the same time, GM predicted flying cars by the year 2000! Whoops, guess they got that wrong.

PAS

Paul,

I haven't seen the Wordpress plugins you mention. Do you have a name of link to them. Thanks,

chuck

[Anwar-Ibrahim-Rules]

it seems that people are evolving very fast on how they use internet to find information

[write-stuff]

I've been designing my sites in the 980ish range for at least a couple of years. This conversation did get me to go back to look at my stats though. Curious observation:

For my aviation-related sites, only about 2-3% have a screen resolution of 800x600 or less.

For the one site that appears in my signature below, about 25% use 800x600.

Pretty significant spread and not sure how to interpret it. - Russ