screen resolutions

[David Mackenzie]

Just to back this up a little - close to 100% of the non-geek users I've observed or asked maximize the browser window, right up to 1024 x 768 and beyond. They are almost all very surprised when I point out that there's any other option. My estimate is that the large majority of users have the browser window maximized, though usually with all browser toolbars visible and often with a browser sidebar open all the time.

I run a screen resolution of 1024x768 and my browser maximized, but my
actual browser canvas area is just 1024x619. That means that 20% of my
vertical screen estate is taken up will toolbars, menu bars, task
bars, etc!

If I had the Office shortcut bar running, my horizontal canvas size
would be reduced. When I download large files, I show the side-bar so
I can glance across to see how it is doing. That sill further reduces
my horizontal screen estate.

 

[nice.guy.nige]

Happy 4th of July, if you're in American. Well, heck, happy 4th
anyway.

We don't tend to celebrate that one in Britain! ;-) Ermmm... Happy Friday!
How's things over in
Cheers,
Nige

--
Nigel Moss.

Email address is not valid. (e-mail address removed). Take the dog out!
http://www.nigenet.org.uk | Boycott E$$O!! http://www.stopesso.com
"They got the mustard out!"

 

[Andrew Davidson]

Andrew, I respect your opinions but don't like the tone this is taking.
I really don't like a heated debate on a subject that doesn't matter that
much. I feel that resolution statistics are helpful; you feel they're useless.
It's okay with me if we don't agree - hope it is with you.

Patty, I think you have mistaken me. I am far from heated, but I do believe what
I write. Ultimately I think (and others have written too) that a web page *can*
be designed to work at any reasonable resolution. If so, that is what we should
do, and we then won't need to concern ourselves with questions about what the
viewing resolution is.

So, I think the resolution stats are good and true (I've used them in the past
for guidance on screen setting for fixed apps) but they don't connect to web
page design.

Happy 4th of July, if you're in American. Well, heck, happy 4th anyway.

Thank you for that, it's not something we English celebrate (guess why?) but
it's a Friday, and those are always worth celebrating. :-}

Regards

 

[C A Upsdell]

Hello.

Does anyone have good links to current (or older) statistics for surfer´s
screen resolutions? Would be very helpful in a present discussion about
mostly used configurations.

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

 

[P@tty Ayers]

How's things over in news:macromedia.dreamweaver?

Oh, fine. My 3-year stint as Macromedia Evangelist/Team Macromedia is over, so I don't feel so compelled to be there all the time. I don't plan on writing any more Dreamweaver books, so I don't feel I have to know every detail of the software these days!

 

[EightNineThree]

Hm.. that's about as well as it can be done. But at 400 x 300, it looks

pretty odd

No shit. Nice Red Herring you got there. Pick it up on the way home?
Find *any* site that looks good at 400x300.

What would be your solution to designing a site that looks good at 400x300?
Find one. Just one.
And make sure it looks good at 800, 1024, and 1280

and even at 1280 x 1024, some of the text lines are way too long for

readability, so at higher than that it's not going to work well either.

Looks fine to me at 1400x1050

 

[Jacqui or (maybe) Pete]

Hm.. that's about as well as it can be done. But at 400 x 300, it looks =
pretty odd (lots of lines with only 1 word), and even at 1280 x 1024, =
some of the text lines are way too long for readability, so at higher =
than that it's not going to work well either.

Looks pretty good on a symbian pda.

 

[Anonymous Joe]

Yes, because everyone at alt.html designs pages for you.
?

Fact of a matter is 800x600 is a decent size to make pages to fit for.

[snip other irrelevant stuff]

You haven't answered the question. Let me put it another way:

If a page adjusts well to both 400x300 and 1600x1200 window sizes, then
it will also adjust well to other window sizes between these two,
including 800x600, no? So, how does knowing screen resolution help in
any way?

If a screen resolution is, say, the generic X by Y resolution.

You know your width cannot be more than X, and the Y pretty much doesn't
matter as long as it is big enough to keep the page from looking ridiculous.

Now, barring the people who use 640x480 screen resolution, who are complete
morons, you can assume that anybody viewing your page will be using atleast
800x600 screen resolution.

Now, what about the window size? Can't tell. But if your page's content
fills a screen area of say 720px wide, then a person with 800x600 resolution
can easily see the whole page.

But, their browser window is set to 400px wide. They're missing 320px
pixels of the width of your page.

What can they do to fix it?

1) Close the browser or go to another page, your page isn't designed to be
friendly towards them and they are arrogant little bastards who feel your
site is of no use to them anyways
2) Maximize their window to see your whole page, it is a good page, but
takes up more space then they wanted to use
3) Keep their window size but side-scroll, it makes them feel like they are
beating you somehow

Well, they have to do one of those 3 things. Take a look at all the big
traffic sites, they aren't designed to fit a 400x300 window, they often fill
atleast a 800x600 window, and might fit better in a maximized 1024x768
window.

Ebay needs atleast 800x600, CNET needs atleast 800x600, Tom's Hardware needs
atleast 1024x768, Fileplanet needs atleast 800x600.

I mean, if people can view these big traffic pages fine, then they obviously
know how to prevent side-scrolling and they are capable of making the window
bigger than the page, to fit it properly. Soooo......if people don't mind
viewing these pages with large content areas, why are they going to go away
from somebody's site who posts here if their window is set to 400x300?

Personally, which means it is valueless, I keep my browser maximized, and
use the taskbar to switch between apps, or minimize ones I'm not using right
then. I'm sure I'm not alone.

Dunno about the higher traffic (ie Porn) sites, tho

 

[P@tty Ayers]

No shit. Nice Red Herring you got there. Pick it up on the way home?
Find *any* site that looks good at 400x300.

I was responding to others who claimed that it was both necessary and possible to make pages which look good at 400 x 300 and also at 1600 x 1200. I think that's both overly rigid and overly simplistic. There has to be some compromise - pages which look great at 800 and 1024 tend to suffer a little at much lower and much higher sizes.

At least in my work, I have to make constant adjustments and compromises to keep my clients and their customers happy. Nobody has ever asked me to be sure that a site looked great at 300 x 400 and at 1600 x 1200. Neither my clients nor their customers are concerned with that. They're very concerned that the pages look excellent at the more common sizes (the whole range between about 640 and 1024, currently), and that's what they pay me to do.

I'm glad to discuss this is people are interested, but I'm not going to respond to any other hostile or sarcastic posts - sorry!

Patty

 

[Bill Clark]

Now, barring the people who use 640x480 screen resolution, who are complete
morons, you can assume that anybody viewing your page will be using atleast
800x600 screen resolution.

Yeah... But... Frequently these folks with 640x480 have money to spend on
other things than the latest and greatest(?) 'puter stuff...

--
-bc-
Sexy Senior Citizen

Support your local retailer

Clark's Law:
In any disagreement, more than 3 messages per person tend toward the
department of redundancy department...

 

[Titus A Ducksass]

Hello.

Does anyone have good links to current (or older) statistics for surfer´s
screen resolutions? Would be very helpful in a present discussion about
mostly used configurations.
Thanks in advance.

Sebastian

Screen resolution is not relevant to a blind person using a screen
reader.

 

[Isofarro]

Screen resolution is not relevant to a blind person using a screen
reader.

Nor to googlebot - the friend that tells all its friends about your website.