Source code web page sizes?

[Rianna]

Hi, I'm looking at the width of the most popular websites to see how wide their web pages are through IE. Their width code is in some sort of script, probably javascript. I know we talked about web page width somewhere else here but I can't find it.

Using css or html what are good page and safe page widths? In pixels if you can, the web designer editor I am using, lists it in pixels. Thanks, Rianna

[TiGGi]

If you want static width 750 px will fit 800x600 resolution. You can also do your site in full width so as browser resizes you page will too but this is rarelly used

[Tweak4]

The vast majority of surfers (76%) are using 1024x768 or greater, with another 16% at 800x600. So, if you design a site to work at 800px width, you'll look fine to almost all surfers.
At my company, we design for 1024x768 monitors, and just make sure that all elements can compress gracefully to 800x600, so our screens look great for anyone using "normal" resolutions, and are still viewable by lower res users without horizontal scrolling or anything like that.

You'll develop an eye for it eventually, but in the mean time, just write a quick script to resize your browser to various sizes, and you can see what your site will look like on various sized screens.
(If you use IE, you can also download Microsoft's IE Developer Toolbar, which has resize functions built in to make testing easier)

[ray326]

Keep in mind that people who are running high res screens are NEVER running a web browser maximized. The point of running high res is almost always to get more windows on the screen, not to get more stuff in a single zoomed window.

[felgall]

Blind people use web readers with 0 x 0 resolution.

Not everyone browses full screen regardless of what screen resolution they are using.

Mobile phone users usually only have very low resolutions.

web TV users have a fixed 544 pixel width.

In the future the web will be accessed by many different means with computers gradually moving into the minority. Design your page to work independent of screen size.

[Rianna]

Ha, Ha, Ha, Stephen! Busted me up for a few minutes on that one. Well you guys are managing to confuse me, I think more votes here are needed please. I put my page at 750 but would love to go to 800. I am worried about the printing of pages. Mr. Tweak whats the opinion on printing at 750 or 800 for most printers anyway? Thanks, Ri.

[felgall]

Use a variable width that looks good regardless of the size of the window. 750 width will look rediculous in browsers with 600 width or 2000 width.

I use the following to set the width of my content to 94% with a minimum width of 570 pixels (except on webTV which uses 540) and a maximum of 850 pixels (so the lines don't get too long for easy reading). Much more flexible than using either a straight fixed width or variable width. (IE6 doesn't understand the min and max and so it is a straight 94% in that antique).

#content {margin:2% auto;width:94%;width:540px%;min-width:570px;max-width:850px;

[Rianna]

I notice that even on a smaller width, Internet Explorer still has to use a bit of a scroll bar. I think I know what you are getting at. Even with a small browser though won't it just have a bigger scroll, from side to side? It doesn't cut the side of the page completely off does it? Thankya, Ri.

[ray326]

I am worried about the printing of pages. Mr. Tweak whats the opinion on printing at 750 or 800 for most printers anyway?Print and screen media can be handled separately.

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/goingtoprint/