The screen resolution dilemma

[PapaGeek]

I think we are all missing the point on screen resolution. Everyone is making comments about the number of monitors that are 1280 x 1024 or 1024 x 768. They use these figures to defend their opinions on how wide to design their websites.

The key issue is not the size of the monitor, but the size of the browser window. And, to make things even worse, the newer versions of explorer now have a zoom tool in the lower right corner. The monitor at my 9 to 5 is 1920 x 1200. With a single click of the zoom tool the zoom goes to 125% and the browser thinks it is 1536 x 960. A second click takes you to 150% and a 1280 x 800 resolution.

Visitors are coming to our sites with everything from high definition televisions to hand held cell phones. The baby boomers are viewing the web through their bifocals and using that zoom tool to make the pages more readable.

So what resolution fits the majority of visitors today?

I'd love to hear your comments on this.

PapaGeek -- one of those baby boomers who has been working on computers since 1967!

 

[vdsmedia]

1280 x 1024 is the most used resolution in jan 2010 according to http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_resolution_higher.asp

I use 950 pixels wide for all websites. Just put a container div with a width of 950 pixels around the website and everyhing should stay okay when zooming in.

The height is a nasty issue, some visiters have many toolbars in their browser window that make the vertical web space a lot smaller.

 

[LouTheDesigner]

Choosing a resolution is a bitch. Though 1280 X 1024 is the most widely used, we should consider that there are so many people that just buy little notebooks that they use for business with incredibly small monitors. vdsmedia is SO right about the height issue.

-Lou

 

[kopik]

People seem to forget that a lot of users still using old hardware, and/or just to old to see anything on the screen if resolution is hier than 1024 X 768... Most websites these days still use 1024 X 768, and i dont see many people using the zoom option, just dont include any small pictures or fine print content and you will be fine!

 

[PapaGeek]

Thanks for the feedback so far. This is always an interesting discussion with a lot of opinions.

Is anyone familiar with the CSS3 Media Queries? As I understand them, they will allow you to either import or link CSS files based on min-width and max-width criteria. I'm just wondering if they are set up to allow a "default" stylesheet for when media queries are not supported, which is then overridden by whichever stylesheet the media query determines.

 

[PixelPusher]

I stick to the 960 grid and cater my website layout to fit a 1024 x 7698 resolution. Haven't really ran into too many issues so far