Sizes of Browser Window

Just some conjecture here; does anyone have real stats?

[MatthewHSE]

From another thread: [webmasterworld.com]

You may be assuming that the person is browsing at full screen - and many people do not.

This brings up the interesting question: how many average Internet users actually use anything less than a maximized browser window? I contend that most non-techies tend to maximize their browser window immediately after opening it, and probably never change its size. They may load up IE with six rows of toolbars; they may not have their start-bar set to auto-hide, but all normal surfers I've seen have been using, with just one exception, a maximized browser window.

But then, it's entirely possible that more people than I realize don't use a full-screen browser window after all. What does anyone else have to say on this interesting subject? And are any concrete statistics available?

[divaone]

not stats, and a bit off topic, but i've found most non-techies know nothing about colors. most set up their box and run their monitor forever on less than true colors, making the use of safer (or at least matching tiled) colors in design imperative.

[balinor]

There comes a point when you just have to be happy with the fact that you have designed your page for a good majority of the browsers out there. There are just some things you can't control ;) Scary to think of how many people out there are viewing web pages at low resolution just because they don't know any better! As far as the browser not being full screen, don't think there is much you can do about that other than annoy the user by resizing their browser and removing their menu bars! To me, that is in the same class as pop-ups though.

[tedster]

I think you may be right when it comes to home users. But a whole lot of surfing goes on at work and that can make for some very different scenarios.

Not too long ago I was helping a pretty big financial services company and I had a chance to prowl the cubicles and see how workers there used their browsers. Multiple windows, with none of them full screen, was the rule -- maybe 60% or so. What I saw changed the way I design my sites forever.

[tedster]

Some pretty good screen resolution stats are maintained at W3Schools, updated monthly.

[w3schools.com...]

If you are willing to assume full screen browsing, there you go. Those numbers line up pretty well with what I see across my client sites -- perhaps a bit high on the 800x600 resolution.