Screen resolutions pictorial guide
When designing a website, a balance has to be struck to reach the widest audience with the intended design. The trend is consistently moving to larger monitors and screen resolutions. I check my sites with Google Analytics which gives me feedback on visitors and their screen resolutions:
| Screen resolution | Percentage |
| 800 x 600 pixels | 01% |
| 1024 x 768 pixels | 80% |
| Above 1280 pixels | 19% |
Pixels don't mean much to most people, so screenshots of a sample website will show how a design stands or falls at different resolutions.
Screen resolution 800 x 600 pixels - 1% of visitors
1% of the market and falling . . . should be non existent in a year. You could design a website that accommodates this market, but the design would look pretty strange to the other 92% of users. You also have to ask yourself, who would you want to reach that works on a 10 year old computer?
Screen resolution 1024 x 768 pixels - 80% of visitors
This screen resolution accounts for the vast majority of all internet users, but it is also falling as people switch to larger monitors. For any web developer, you need to get your important information in this area (above the fold) so people can read it without scrolling.
Screen resolution greater than 1024 x 768 pixels - 19% of visitors
Big time? Roughly 19% of visitors have this screen resolution that's higher than the average. However, you should bear in mind that modern operating systems allow for window resizing - so just because they can view a page at this size doesn't mean they will. Most users will resize their screen so that the majority of pages on the web look thier best. Which takes us back again to around 1024 x 768.