Have the standards changed?

800 x 600

It was said that 800 x 600 pixles rule is written in stone. But is it? The world around web developers is changing, but we still keep the same’standard’. The world has long ago embraced 1024 x 768, and yet we still make everything for the old 800px width. Are we rigid? Stubborn? Or do we just have to make websites for those folks with 800px widths? The rule is to let everybody in so they can see the content, but does it really need to be the guy with the smallest width that makes the rule? I mean get serious, its 2005 (that’s 2-0-0-5, as in the new millenium). If your monitor uses 800 x 600 as the optimal resolution, make a mental note - invest in a new one. I happen to like the way I look without glasses, I hope you do too.

Should these visitors even be regarded as’regular’visitors, or should we just exclude them from the css media named screen? OK, I know I’m exaggerating a bit (and it would be kinda hard to do this), but hey, some of the more capable handhelds already have a resolution close to that, so I guess I’m not so wrong.

It’s a Mac thing

OK, this I can take into consideration. Folks on Macs tend to have unmaximised windows open. But in this case you can easily resize your browser window to match the site width, or live with horizontal scrollbars.

A sign of hope

A List Apart made the first big step when they came out with the fixed width of 960 pixles. And within days a post titled” A List Too Far Apart? “appeared on 456 Berra Street . As you might’ve guessed, the comments were some what mixed.

All in all I still think the wide concept is not so wrong here. If you resize it to 800x600 you can still see the most important parts - the logo, the content and the third column with the editors choice. If somebody with that width wants to search ALA, let them scroll their narrow browser.

I belive that now with ALA the whole concept of building websites is moving to 1024x768. Finally.
- my commment on 456 Berra Street

So what’s the deal

Well. I’ve signed up for the CSS Reboot Fall 2005 and have completed the basic page design. I’ve drawn it to be just under 800px wide, but have been considering making it a bit wider to let my content breathe a bit. And the only reason I can think of not to do so at this moment is the Mac users (and their unmaximised windows as mentioned earlier). I’ll have to sleep on this one for a couple of days, but have to say I’m leaning towards making it wider then everything I’ve made so far. Well what do you think?