Screen Resolution

In comparison to the fixed-versus-liquid debate, the arguments about designing for particular screen resolutions are much more tame. When designers say that a site is designed, or optimized, for a particular screen resolution, they’re actually talking about the resolution of the viewer’s monitor. The debate has centered around whether or not we should design sites in such a way that people using a monitor resolution of 800×600 pixels could see the entire width of the content area with their browsers in full-screen mode. Given that we must account for sidebars and browser borders, this approach would see us design a content area that’s approximately (or that could be resized to approximately) 750 pixels wide.

As of July, 2006, W3Schools’ screen resolution statistics showed that the number of W3Schools users who set their screen resolutions to 800×600 pixels had dropped, but not to the point that it could be safely ignored—see Figure 1.30.At the time, this resolution still accounted for 17% of users, but that number had dropped by 3-5% every six months for the previous two years. Does this mean that as soon as those displays set to 800×600 have been replaced, we can all start to design sites that are 1024 pixels wide? Hardly. Even if everyone was using a resolution of 1024×768 pixels or more, not everyone will use your site with the browser window maximized.

Figure 1.30: W3Schools’ screen resolution statistics

Although statistics like those provided by W3Schools help to give us reason to design for higher resolutions, the most important factor in web design is the end user. If the web site you’re building is for web professionals and people who are likely to use the latest computer equipment and high resolutions, it may be safe to push the design envelope and create designs that are wider than 800 pixels. The goal, though, is to prevent users from needing to scroll from left to right in order to read content. So, even if you decide to design beyond the 800-pixel standard, do not alienate the few 800×600 users you have by forcing them constantly to scroll from left to right and back again just to read your site’s content. You’ll only make them sea-sick!

The August 2005 redesign of design web site A List Apart provides a great example of how a design that’s wider than 800 pixels can remain accessible to users with 800×600-pixel displays. Even though a horizontal scrollbar displays on the site at an 800×600 resolution, you can see all of the real content without scrolling. At 1024×768 pixels, the horizontal scrollbar disappears, and another column becomes visible on the right, displaying search functionality, topic links, and advertising. This extra column adds functionality and structure to the design of the site, but doesn’t always need to be visible.