Advise visitor on screen resolution reqd?

**Lol999** · 10-09-2007, 11:41 AM

Hi all, what are peoples opinions on advising visitiors to your site of the minimum screen res to view it succesfully? For instance, I set my screen at 1024x768 and design my site accordingly, often having an image of 800 pix on one dimension. If someone with 800x600 resolution set views this it will be enormous, so what's the best solution? A little sign on the home page "Best viewed at 1024x768" or what?

Thanks, Lol

**sri_gan** · 10-09-2007, 12:41 PM

Lol,

Always plan your site for 800 x 600 there are still huge amount of people view in that resolution and especially old people will use 800x600 because they may have low eye sight.

Take a look at my website ( see my signature ) and change the resolution, see the compatibility.

The layout is planned on that basis.

**Lol999** · 10-09-2007, 01:19 PM

Perhaps I'm just getting hung up on the fact that I like to view photographic images without having to scroll to see it all. Hmm, one to think about but let's have some more opinions.

Thanks, Lol

**coolkbk585** · 10-09-2007, 07:22 PM

W3Counter - Global Web Stats

**vangogh** · 10-09-2007, 08:53 PM

Lol the best way to decide is to check your own server logs. 800x600 users are becoming scarcer, but there are still enough of them to consider. Depending on your site you may find more or less than average.

On my site until recently 800x600 users represented about 8% of my traffic. That was enough for me to make sure the site looked ok at that resolution. I optimized the design for 1024x768, but made sure it still worked for the lower res.

Recently I'm noticing that 800x600 users are down to about 3% on my site. That makes me reconsider a little. In the end I think it's possible to optimize your design for the larger resolutions while still keeping things manageable for lower res visitors.

Also consider if people will be viewing your site on a mobile device.

**Lol999** · 10-10-2007, 04:16 AM

Yeah most of my visitors use 1024x768 so I'll continue to develop for those but make sure the site is viewable okjay in 800x600. Wrt mobile devices I think they'd need a magnifying glass to see the images properly!

Thanks, Lol

**blue-dreamer** · 10-10-2007, 07:32 AM

Rule no.1a of web design - never adjust your visitors browser size
Rule no.1b of web design - never ask your visitors to change their screen resolution to see your site

Design for everyone in the first place!

**vangogh** · 10-10-2007, 05:35 PM

Good advice on both counts.