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When will 1024x768 Replace 800x600 for Web Design?
Dr.X asks: "It seems as users get bigger and better monitors and video cards, the standard for web resolution is slowly approaching 1024. There is a fairly in depth answer over at Google stating that we are likely to be safe at 800x600 but when will we hit 1024 as the standard. What's Slashdot's opinion?"
Our site was designed for 1024x768, this site is running since January; the stats are since the end of March. It's a webshop (computer hardware) in the Netherlands. Numbers were found using a hidden frame that posts a form with values filled in by a bit of javascript.
Of course, designing for a fixed resolution is bad, should always look good, yadda yadda... It'll work on lower resolutions but you may have to scroll sideways now and then.
I believe posters are recognized by their sig. So I made one.
Do not fix your web pages to a specific resolution. I hate those idiots, who think that world rotates around 1024x768 monitors. I'm surfing web with different kinds of devices and browsers (WAP browsers, text-only browsers, Avant Go etc.) and it pisses me off when I hit the page which can't scale correctly to my browser.
Content is what matters, not fixed-sized cool-looking layout (you know, it's possible to make nice looking, functional web sites with scalable layout).
I've noticed that the most notorious misusers of fixed layout are designers, who have used to design magazines. Apparently there is not enough education about web designing at art schools even nowadays.
As more cell phones become web enabled there will be a push for web developers to design pages that cater to those consumers. how we will do that is any body's guess however I think that a lot of browser detection with a dynamic back end will be popular. Opera has a great cell browser that does a wonderful job of making most pages that I visit small screen compatible. but I think that users will push for more as the technology develops.
thats MHO.
There's no css for scale to 1200 and fix it at wider screens.
The standard answer to CSS complaints: actually, there is, it just isn't implemented in Internet Explorer. The following CSS
div.main-content { max-width: 1200px; }
does exactly what it says on the tin (constrain width to 1200 pixels).
is due to their requirements to support multiple platforms and browsers and many legacy browsers. They still generate a text version of the homepage. They even support OS/2 to this day.
How do I know? I used to work for them as their lead HTML developer back in the day, and worked extensive for their website standards.
Just follow standards so that your pages nicely scale, and you won't have to worry! A real-world example is that my parents' less-than-stellar eyesight requires that they keep their resolutions much smaller than 1024x768 meaning that pages of larger resolution require left and right scrolling. This not only is a hassle, but some of the intended "design" of the page is lost if the user can't see it all.
Make your page scalable, and you'll have a winner.
My mom always said, "Jim, you're 1 in a million." Given the current population, there are 7000 of me. God help us all!
Well, the ones who develop using CSS for layout are usually very standards-aware, it's the other guys who are the problem.
The resolution I develop for is 100%, but one can make good fixed-width layouts, even ones that run off the viewport horizontally, which requires real talent (or good luck). See CSS Zen Garden.
Marxist evolution is just N generations away!
Unfortunately even CSS has problems when designing a relative-scale page, mainly because position: absolute is not rendered correctly (absolute in relation to the parent element) and the insufficiency of 'float'.
My major problems with fixed-width are that A) fonts are fixed which is really bad for some people and B) some fix the site to the top left corner rather than center of page.
Marxist evolution is just N generations away!
Then you should do what any sensible engineer would do and identify your target browsers and choose a sensible subset of CSS that works across all of them. Alternatively write code that adapts to the 'odd' ones out.
As for your not being a 'real' web designer, that doesn't matter so long as you are a skilled individual who approaches the task methodically and with a good eye to problems and their solutions. I fully agree with your attitude about so called professionals. Many of them probably know far less than you (as a stated non-professional) yet arrogantly state their supposed expertise.
A: Hopefully, never. Actually, optimistically speaking, web designers will realize that they shouldn't even be aiming for or requiring a graphical resolution as not everyone uses a graphical browser.
Helpful links:
People who say "best viewed at/with" obviously don't get the web.
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