Layout width

which one to choose from

[getxb]

While looking at the web layouts for the top US web sites like Yahoo, Myspace, Youtube, Facebook, Blogger, Bebo, Friendster, etc. I found no fixed width as such. All the layouts have some minor (pixels) difference in widths. Like Yahoo Narrow layout is 770px while Wide layout is 950px, MSN is 800px, Facebook is 799px, Blogger is 750px, etc.

Looking at this am a bit confused as to which one is ideally the standard width. Or are there any standard width as such?

Please shed some light on this topic.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

There are no standard widths. When the width on a website is not flexible it is usually set to accommodate a minimum screen resolution. The minimum resolution still in use is 800x600. This is why many sites set their widths at somewhere just under 800 as this leaves room for sidebars.

Depending on the target market much less than 10% of people will be using 800x600. In certain markets this will only be about 1% or 2%.

So you will find that with the vast majority of people using monitors with a resolution => 1024x768 many designers are making the width 950 or just under 1024.

[edited by: BeeDeeDubbleU at 11:37 am (utc) on Jan. 16, 2008]

[LostOne]

This would also depend on your target audience. I've been noticing some areas of the world have a high percentage of users still using 800 x 600. Or at least much higher than my audience. Looking at my stats I see 800 x 600 has fallen off the cliff in recent years, now under 5%

My visitors also have higher income levels and the products or information offered caters to homeowners. 95% are North American too. Could be several reasons for the 5% figure I see. I'ven given up on the smaller screen resolution. 5% doesn't bother me. Most are probably outside the US and would not have the need for my products because of the logistics involved. Now I can finally get larger higher quality images and larger text on the site.

[piatkow]

On the other hand a lot of people don't maximise their windows. I still avoid having a screen width wider than 750 pixels but now link images to larger copies.

[Madenio]

Viewing the analysis of our sites i wouldn't optimise the site for 800x600 anymore (This is the same if you would optimise your site for a small browsers instead of IE 6.). The 1024x768 seems to be default resolution nowadays. I would go lower than 990px.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

With regard to 800x600, it is perhaps worth pointing out that many websites are now set to higher resolutions. Those who still use 800x600 monitors will be used to having to scroll horizontally so they probably accept it.

[wrgvt]

I just checked the stats for my busiest web site. Visitors with 600x800 resolution are just 0.5% of my total visitors.