Web Site Screen Widths

What should be the ideal size for the screen designed for your Web page ? The answer to this depends on the monitor resolution used by your site's visitors. Experts suggest that 800x600 pixels is fast becoming the standard screen resolution.

Screen resolution is a major Web design issue. There are problems if you design your page for a high resolution monitor. Visitors with lower resolution screens will have to scroll to the right to view parts of the page. One idea is to design "liquid pages" that adjust to the visitor's screen size. It is done by defining the width of HTML tables used for page layout in terms of screen percentages. A table that covers to entire width of the screen is set to WIDTH="100%." However, this gives less control over the position of page elements within the table. As a result many Web designers prefer to define their table width in terms of pixels.

What pixel width should you use for the screen size is the next question. The conventional way has been to design to the smallest screen width used commonly. That would mean designing for a 640x480 pixel screen.

A unwritten rule followed by many designers is that, if a feature isn't available to 90% of your audience, you shouldn't count on it. Survey respondents tend to be more computer literate and spend more time online that the average Web surfer. They are therefore more likely to be using
larger monitors and higher resolution screens.

Lastly, Keep in mind that whatever monitor resolution you choose for your design, your HTML tables should be set to some lesser number of pixels. If your target is a 640 pixel monitor, set your tables to about 600 pixels wide. If your target is an 800 pixel monitor, set your tables to be about 750 pixels wide. This allows room for the browser's scroll bar, which takes up a portion of your screen width.