[Web4lib] 800x600 Browser Resolution

[Thomas Dowling]

On 8/1/2006 3:46 AM, Roger Fenton wrote:

> A little late, maybe, Virginia, but Jakob Nielsen has just published an
> Alertbox on this topic:
> http://www.useit.com/alertbox/screen_resolution.html
> 

Just pay close attention to Nielsen's definition of "optimize for
1024x768".  What this article doesn't make clear is that the number of
users with 1280x1024 screens or above is roughly the same as the number
with 800x600.  So if just the commonly seen display environments range
to 150% of the low end, there's clearly no single width that fits enough
users to justify the number you're ticking off.  Factor the likely
changes to font sizes (more pixels to work with -> more pixels per
character -> higher resolution text at the same physical size), and the
increasing unpredictablity of *window* sizes as screen sizes grow, and
it should be clear that any fixed-width design is a dead end.


-- 
Thomas Dowling
tdowling at ohiolink.edu