Screen Resolutions

Which is the most common?

[mmmwowmmm]

I was wondering if anyone knew of a good source for stats on what screen resolutions people are using.

Most stats like these seem to come from the administrator's logs of websites that have something to do with webmastering. I believe that this would throw things off, kind of like the way the firefox browser shows up a lot more often at websites that have to do with webdesign. It's not your typical crowd.

Does anyone know of an un-slanted source for this information? I've recently noticed a lot of sites that set their widths to 900 pixels or more, which forces people with a screen resolution of 800 x 600 have to scroll horizontally (or change their screen res).

I always set my widths to a percentage, which lets the page adjust to each person's browser. I always thought that this was the correct way to do it. But there are so many sites, even very professional sites, that ignore this, that I'm starting to wonder if I'm missing something. Am I missing something? Isn't it better to set your widths to a percentage, rather than pixels?

[vrtlw]

With "most" new flat panels 1280x1024 but I figure 1024x768 when designing a site. Although it should be accessible using 800x600.

[mmmwowmmm]

I'm a little confused by this. I have a 17" monitor, and when I set my screen resolution to 1280 x 1024, I almost cannot read the text. 1024 x 768 is better, but I still have to strain a little - just enough that it wears me out after an hour or so. My vision is 20/20 (with contacts). I know you can increase the text size in your browser settings, but I don't think people are doing this.

My own preferences aside, what I'm really wondering is if anyone knows of a good, reliable source for stats on screen resolutions. I'd like to know what percentage of people are actually using these higher resolutions. Anybody got a source?

[youfoundjake]

Having looked at my analytics, most of the visitors, roughly 90% of them are using 1024x768. As it was once pointed out to me, also keep in mind that alot of visitors won't have the browser maximized, so its good to scale it on 800x600. Take a look at sites you go to like yahoo. Their's is designed for 800x600, centered. Check msnbc, cnn, aol, msn, whatever sites you wish.

[plumsauce]

search for:

"select a design width that avoids horizontal scrolling"

you will find a chart that gives the usage at various resolutions and the percentage of the audience that can view a page without scrolling horizontally.

currently, it says that about 55% are using 1024 width, which will cover 77% of the population when greater than 1024 width screens are added to the total.

the chart is updated frequently.

[agbenny]

Survey Says:
1024x768 - 52.63%
1280x1024 - 18.37%
1280x800 - 7.52%
800x600 - 7.31%

As per the some Stats from University of Texus at austin.

[mmmwowmmm]

Yeah, it really looks like 800x600 is pretty uncommon. I'm surprized it's that low, though.

I guess I should start setting my to 1024x768 when I'm creating pages, and just get used to looking at small text.

Thanks, y'all

[Visit Thailand]

As already mentioned while higher resolutions may well be the norm nowadays (I am on a silly - 1,920 x 1,200) most people will have their favs open and /or the windows will not be full screen. Most people are happy to see 800 x without having to scroll but I would not want to start making users scroll horizontally at all.