size of webpage

[veenashekar]

hi everybody,
what would be the standard webpage size to use that looks good on all monitors.
when i use 800/600 the alignment is all wrong on a 640x480 or vice versa. please advice

[nickc]

I use 800x600 as the base resolution - hardly anyone uses resolutions lower than that.

Nick

[veenashekar]

thanks Nick,
Does that mean i need not worry as to how it looks on a lower resolution.?
Veena

[ranjan]

hardly anyone uses resolutions lower than that.

The statement is not true.

Veena, you are from India and you should know that there are a lot of old computers, especially amongst home users in India. These computers are generally set at 640 x 480.

Nick, Since you are from UK, you should know that the trend of small screen browser usage is catching on rapidly with the advent of Palm held devices and Net enabled phones (usually a resolution of 200 px wide).

Veena and Nick and everybody else that works with computers, should also know that a lot of people do not have their browser windows maximized when browsing. I may have an 800 x 600 resolution, but I may browse at 400 x 600!

The resolution stats hence mean nothing to a web designer.

For more info, read this

http://thepattysite.com/window_sizes1.cfm

[Dragonsi]

This topic has been discussed many times before but the end result is that as web designers, we must try to accommodate all variables and at the minimum, pick the best of the bunch, so to speak.

A graphic designer has the luxary of knowing the final output, so can adjust the layout to suit the project and obtain maximum effect. However, web designers don't have that luxary.

Personally, I design in Dreamweaver using a 800x600 window. Then preview using a larger almost 1024x728 window. As Ranjan pointed out most correctly, handheld/mobile surfing is becoming as common in some parts of the world as PC/MAC based surfing. If your site is mainly text with minimal graphics, then you should not have a problem as long as you use percentage table widths. Using fixed table widths will cause anyone surfing with a browser under that fixed width, will have to scroll < >

Another option, is to design multiple sites, each designed with a certain browser in mind.... Time consumming but at least the visitor will have the option of which res they wish to view the site...

[veenashekar]

thanks ranjan
You got straight to my problem. I am still unable to use a resolution thats would fit all monitors. Can you please check my website on a lower resolution and tell me. I have used 800x600 on dreamweaver. I checked with higher resolution but the fonts become small and unreadable.
Any suggestions will be most appreciated.I am going over the site http://thepattysite.com/window_sizes1.cfm and find it very useful.
Veena

[veenashekar]

thanks Dragonsi,

i am not sure how i can have multiple sites and give options to visitors. I am fairly new in this field and have a lot to learn.
if you check out my new website you will know the problem i am facing right now. Please let me know how I can design one site with different resolutions??
veena

[sijpie]

Veena,

first of all, I don't understand why you can't check your site at a lower resolution. This only entails (on a windows machine) going to the desktop, right clicking, and setting in the settings tab the resolution to 640x480 say. Easy as pie.

Secondly to get pages at different resolutions is failry easy. You have to create the pages, say one for 640x480, one for 800x600 and one high res page (and if you expect palm and smartphone users one at 160 wide).

Then on the home page have a link to each resolution. You could try to do it automatically, but that may not always work, so you would still need the links anyway.

On PalmVenue for instance I have the site mirrored for 160x160 resolution in www.palmvenue.com/mobile Here I have taken account of graphics (minimal, and smaller if required), which has the added advantage that the site loads very much quicker(, so I often use it if I am on a slow link...), which is important for loading over lowbandwidth gsm

[Dragonsi]

Hi Veena,

Can you provide the URL of your site for us to review..?

Regards different site per res.... Sijpie is correct, you need to setup a home page with easy to follow links (close to the top) for different browsers. The create a copy of the site but designed for a lower/bigger res.

Here's something else you have to concider...

Unless you use CSS to fix the font size, it should be possible for viewers to adjust the font size of the browser (IE = 'view' > 'font size') - which means that if a visitor has bad eyesite, they have have font size set to large, where the average user will have fonts set to medium. This will cause all sorts of alighnment and layout problems.

Try it, visit your site with a high res screen, then click on <View> and select <Font Size> then large.... There you go, everything is all over the place.....

Good fun this web design.... in it..... :)

[veenashekar]

thanks sijpie and Dragansi,
I have viewed my website on all resolutions and that is why the question came about and also because some were complaining about alignment.
Yes you can review it. thanks in advance
www.shankarafoundation.com
I also posted it for review.

will look forward to more commnets
thanks
veena

[ranjan]

As web designers our jobs is to make a website simple to use and easy to maintain. Anybody that suggest that build 100 versions of a website to fit 100 resolutions is giving you wrong advice. Do not listen to such advice.

If you read the article I linked to you would see an image of a desktop with a high resolution. The browser is run at 770px.

How are websites then designed that would look good in all windows (Note I say windows and not RESOLUTION)?

The answer is to use flexible measurements. Use % instead on px for table/div widths. Use % instead of px for font sizes.

http://www.dwfaq.com/Tutorials/Table...ble_tables.asp

I suggest a vertical navigation for your website, instead of horizontal.

[veenashekar]

Thanks Ranjan,
I will take your advice. I am going through the site you recommended earlier. But i am unable to get some pages to open. I will try again later.
In the meanwhile please checkout the website
www.shankarafoundation.com
I forgot to ask, when i use percent how much should I use in the place of 800x600 pixels
thanks for everything.
Veena

[ranjan]

The turorial at dwfaq.com will tell you exactly what to do.