It’s seems like whenever I create a fixed-width design, I automatically set it to 960px. This is no accident- after all, as it’s stated on the 960 Grid System site:

All modern monitors support at least 1024 × 768 pixel resolution. 960 is divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 20, 24, 30, 32, 40, 48, 60, 64, 80, 96, 120, 160, 192, 240, 320 and 480. This makes it a highly flexible base number to work with.

The problem, of course, with going with a fixed-width of 960 is that it’s not very nice to the people still using 800 x 600 resolutions. And, like it or not, there are people who refuse to move up to 1024 x 768- no matter how new or modern their monitors may be. My father-in-law is one.

Then I checked Hobo’s updated screen monitor resolutions, and they’re reporting that among the 124,727 visits their site had in the past three months, only 1.55% are using 800 x 600. The problem is that 1.55% is 1,684 visitors.

Now finding that out makes me feel a bit like a jerk. 1.55% sounds small, but over a thousand six hundred people is something. By fixing my width at 960, I’m serving them up a design that they won’t see in its entirety even if they have their browser window on full screen (and many don’t). Essentially, I’m forcing them to scroll to the right- something I never, ever want to do.

Now, I’m not denouncing 960px layouts- indeed, I’ll continue using them, but maybe I’ll stop and think more often about who the website’s visitors are. What age group am I designing for? Are they more likely to be on older monitors?

I’m interested in hearing from you about what fixed-width sizes you use in your design.