What Screen Resolution Does Your Client See?
Many business owners and bloggers, and even web designers, forget that their viewers may not be seeing their site in the way they expect. Keeping screen resolution in mind really matters, especially if you work on a large monitor as I do.
If your site is unattractive or difficult to navigate for your client or potential client, they’ll leave.
What Screen Resolutions Are In Use?
The screen resolution in which your site (or Twitter page) is viewed makes a big impact. Here are the the screen resolution statistics for the last three years:
| Date | Higher | 1024 x 768 | 800 x 600 | 640 x 480 | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2011 | 85.1% | 13.8% | 0.6% | 0% | 0.5% |
| January 2010 | 76% | 20% | 1% | 0% | 3% |
| January 2009 | 57% | 36% | 4% | 0% | 3% |
What this tells us is that 1024 x 768 should probably be the minimum size you are concerned with.
What Are The Trends?
Tablet Computing
The 1024 x 768 numbers may take an atypical jump UP by next year, since the iPad and similar tablets are becoming quite common.
Smartphones
The resolution of the average smart phone will also have an impact. Right now, smart phone resolutions vary from 320 x 240 to 960 x 640; a common resolution for smartphones is 800 x 480. While most of us wouldn’t build our entire site to accommodate smartphones (yet!), obviously a site planned for 1024 x 768 will be easier for them to navigate, than one built to a higher resolution.
Easily Checking Screen Resolution
A really useful tool for checking screen resolution on the fly is Chris Pederick’s Web Developer extension for Firefox or Chrome. It allows you to instantly resize the window you’re viewing so that you can see what your client may be seeing. I use it daily – as you can see in the image, changing your window size to emulate a different screen resolution is fast and easy.
As I mentioned above, my recommendation at this time is that you build for 1024 x 768, even if you personally have the luxury of a 1920 x 1200 resolution.
Has Your Website Had A Checkup Lately?
If you already have a website, I offer an inexpensive Existing Website Checkup and Evaluation that will check your display for 1024 x 768 screen resolution, as well as dozens of other factors that impact whether your site gets found and attracts income effectively. You’ll get at least a dozen pages of personalized evaluation and advice, and just one or two of the tips I’ll give you could be worth thousands to you in the next year. Give your website a checkup!
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