Screen Resolutions are a changin'

Screen Resolutions are a changin’

Hamish Stead | 21/05/2010

For the last few years we have been recommending sites be built for the standard resolution of 1024x768 pixels.

As we recommend fixed width websites to help useability and site design, that meant all the important stuff needed to be within 960pixels in width. Layouts that change with a users available space (or liquid layouts) are often touted as an effective means of reducing scrolling and an overall a better use of screen real estate. The downside (and why we have recommended against them) is that you end up with content looking thin and ‘lonely’. More critical is that people have a limit to how far along a line of text they will read, with standard font sizes (12pt) 12 words are generally about the limit before eyes tracking and neck movement start to degrade the ease of comprehension.

Fixed width layouts mean that the different parts of a design will always fit snugly and harmoniously together – the users eye always travels where you want it to, meaning that conversions (buying, registering, any interaction) are increased, and overall it’s easier to read.

Explaining these principle recently – I referenced our usual source for browser statistics; w3Schools.

The results were quite interesting  - with the percentage of browsers resolution over 1024x768 jumping almost 20% in a year to 76% as of January 2010.

Their information should be taken with a grain of salt, however, as their info is from their own site. Almost by definition this means their traffic is comprised of web industry professionals – so not necessarily indicative of the wider population. 

Luckily – we manage a considerable amount of clients SEO accounts – meaning I could get a good overview of websites catering to a wide range of different audience demographics. The result were surprisingly close to w3schools.

For 1024x768 and below the percentages of users varied between 19% and 27%.

This means that, at worst, more than 70% of users have a screen resolution of above 1024x768px, with a majority using 1280x1024.

This is still far too large a percentage to ignore – IE6 still needs to be acknowledged, and it has a market share hovering around 7%.

The key question is at what stage do we recommend an increase in width for our clients, and what benefits they will receive as a consequence.

Stay tuned.

tags: Technology