Web design... What resolution to use?

[kansasskydiver 0]

I'm in the process of designing a number of sites but am unsure of the resolution I should use. They are Brazilian sites and the percentage is about 50/50 of people using 800x600 vs. 1024x768.

my parents use 800x600 on their little 15inc monitors and i use it too but i have a 21inch and have to keep things somewhat big lol.

what's your opinion as for the size? it's my parents site so should i design in 800x600 so it looks good to them at home but then shitty at work and small or do it in a decent resolution and have it blown up at home?

any opinions?

<--- See look, pink dolphins DO exist!

[Nightingale 0]

personally, I design for 800x600, because most people looking at a website do not have the computer skills to know that the resolution can be altered, and 800x600 is what is usually set as default.

Personally, I design on my computer at home, set at a greater resolution, and then check the design on my work computer, and change whatever looks funky.

[skydyvr 0]

Why not use options that make the site fit all screen sizes, like percentages of total width instead of hard pixel numbers.

This site, along with a zillion others, is designed that way.

. . =(_8^(1)

[LuvToFly 0]

Quote

I'm in the process of designing a number of sites but am unsure of the resolution I should use. They are Brazilian sites and the percentage is about 50/50 of people using 800x600 vs. 1024x768.

my parents use 800x600 on their little 15inc monitors and i use it too but i have a 21inch and have to keep things somewhat big lol.

what's your opinion as for the size? it's my parents site so should i design in 800x600 so it looks good to them at home but then shitty at work and small or do it in a decent resolution and have it blown up at home?

any opinions?

Certainly, 800 x 600 is "safer" and particularly relevant if you are considering the 50/50 you cited.

But in truth, you can have it both ways.

Design the site in BOTH 800 x 600 and in 1024 x 768. Have your home page at 800 x 600 - with an option to click on to get the higher resolution - which would then redirect the users to the 1024 x 768-designed environment -

That might be the best of both worlds for you if you are concerned about pleasing both camps!

TOM

"The helicopter approaches closer than any other to fulfillment
of mankind's ancient dreams of a magic carpet" - Igor Sikorsky

[kansasskydiver 0]

going to be using a lot of images that i dont want to set at percentages and have the image resized and look crappy... that's my biggest dilema

<--- See look, pink dolphins DO exist!

[skydyvr 0]

Quote

going to be using a lot of images that i dont want to set at percentages and have the image resized and look crappy... that's my biggest dilema

Then going 800x600 may be the best choice . . .

. . . or make two versions of each page and auto-detect the user's screen resolution using a simple java script.

That's about all I know of.

. . =(_8^(1)

[ickleFish 0]

I design all my sites for 800x600 (meaning the width of my pages are pretty much always 740, allowing for scroll bars etc...). I'm not really a fan of designing sites that are 100% width, because I like to know that the page is going to be displayed exactly as I designed it.

[AndyMan 7]

Web design should always be "platform indepdendent".

This means that it should display properly on any resolution, within reason.

HTML is scalable, so it only takes a bit of work to code your site so that it will look perfect at 800*600, and "stretch" up to 1400*1600.

_Am (former webmaster molson.com, littletikes.com, rubbermaid.com, etc).

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[Bodyflight.Net 0]

Hi, I have several hundred sites under my belt in the last few years... from day traders, to vacation rentals, wind tunnels, and intimate apparel.

Variable Width pages are OK, but you can loose some placement control (this site is built using a community software program... sangiro correct me if I'm wrong there, which isn't ideal for most situations)

I design for 800X600 and most of the time simply the whole site. This helps across a wide variety of screen sizes.. and even if you have your favorites open, it still looks good. Honestly though, if you want everyone to see it, stick to 640X480 because that is really the average size... so my trick is to make sure the IMPORTANT stuff is inside of 640X480 and everything outside of that isn't necessary for those who don't see it.

With several dozen clients, I can safely say, build it to suit your clients monitor because they will be the one looking at it all the time, and will not be satified with excuses to any other way.

The folks who have the supersize monitors understand that THEY are the minority...

check out my clickys, I design them all myself
and carbonezone.com is new.... also using the same concepts.

[pilotdave 0]

Attached is about 2 years worth of screen resolution stats for skydivingmovies.com.

I'd go with 800x600 personally.

Dave

[kansasskydiver 0]

would you really even though the stats show a different resolution? i have stats on my site that are the same... i guess i'll use 800x600 probably then

must redesign images but atleast they're vector images

<--- See look, pink dolphins DO exist!

[pilotdave 0]

Yeah about half as many people use 800x600 as 1024x768 in my case, but if the site was 1024 wide, I'd have pissed off 9395 visitors.

On my home computer I use 1280x1024, but I almost never maximize browser windows, so wide websites piss me off.

Dave

[kansasskydiver 0]

very true

<--- See look, pink dolphins DO exist!

[SkydiveMonkey 0]

It depends on the type of site. 8x6 safer, but 1024 has more potential to look a LOT better. I run at 1280 x 768 so I can't say much

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