[thelist] Website Width i.e. 760px vs 960px

[Christian Heilmann]

> I have been building 960px wide web sites for a while now as a lot of
> clients request this and only occasionally do 760px wide. (Fixed width).

Your clients. I might have clients that ask a lot for smaller screen
and even mobile access.

> I am well aware this may mean a horizontal scroll for some (depending on
> screen size and resolution) but have found overall that 960px wide works
> well. The trend these days is wider monitors etc.

Where? What trend? Who claimed this and how does it apply to your situation?

> I usually place the main content within 760px anyway and use this extra
> 200px for additional content...

Not a bad approach.

> >>> What I was after was some useful stats or articles that discuss this
> topic, the pros and cons and so on. Just so I am more informed and up to
> date regarding website widths... Any useful experience and tips is also
> good.

Ask _your client's vistors_ is the only advice that works. Going for
any statistics but your own is a generalisation that does not mean
much. If you are unsure that the visitos _can_ have a layout that
needs a 1024 resolution (where does the arbitary 960 come from) then
offer a style switcher or use a layout that drops the third colum
below the other two when there is not enough space on the screen.

Screen resolution does not mean available space, by the way, you
cannot expect everybody to surf full-screen (I never do on my mac).

Don't nail yourself down to a fixed resolution, why not make it fluid?

-- 
Chris Heilmann
Blog: http://www.wait-till-i.com
Writing: http://icant.co.uk/
Binaries: http://www.onlinetools.org/