9:37 AM
Unknown
On many of the self-updateable sites we build I often receive the following question:
The site isn't "wide"...it's not taking up my whole screen. Will it be wider? (Referring to our 800 x 600 resolution design layout)
Here is where we currently stand on the issue of website width.
When last I checked, statistically, 30% of the screens out there are still the old 800x600 format. (This is changing fast) We can go to the next size up but that means that 30% of your audience will have to scroll left to right. We do not recommend this at this time.
The second option would be to create a site that fills the entire screen. Since most of our sites have the capability to be updated by the customer an expandable site can create some issues with text formatting. In other words, the page may look full on some screen resolutions but on others my have large empty spaces or weird spacing.
The choice is ultimately the customers but at this point we recommend building to the lowest common denominator.
MSN.com is still designed at 800 x 600:
