When over 95% of web users today have monitors with a resolution of 1024×768 or higher, why are we still designing websites for 800×600? The answer is the tide is shifting, and taking advantage of the higher screen resolutions is now one factor to consider when you redesign your website.
Screen resolution market share in January 2009.
According to the Net Applications Market Share website, the total market share for 800×600 monitors stood at a paltry 4.25% in January 2009. But for the vast majority of websites, these monitors remain the design standard. Major media outlets and innovative companies such as Apple Computer have already made the switch to 1024×768 designs, but we think now is the time for nearly everyone to consider the switch as well.
Here are the reasons we advise clients to contemplate the switch:
A bigger window on the world.
Your website is by far the most important element in your marketing and communications efforts. There as a time when people relied on printed literature to learn about your organization, but no longer. Your website is your portal to the world. Add to that the fact that more than 50% of your website visitors will, on average, stay for less than 30 seconds and you can see the value of the larger portal and 63% more screen real estate to present your message.
Designing for 1024x768 provides a much larger display area.
Larger visuals, more compelling design and presentation.
The larger window will have all kinds of positive effects on your site design and visual presentation. Images can be larger and the design of the page is more open. There are more options, especially in terms of the user interface and sidebar elements, to help users navigate your site more easily. Multi-column layouts become more important with the wider screen area, and will create visual interest.
More opportunity for Web 2.0 elements in your design.
The larger portal area provides more opportunities to effectively utilize interactive components, animated slide shows, videos and other new media elements on your site. The current trends in web design are toward sites that feature a rich, user friendly interface, multimedia components, blogs and basically more controls and options for the user. The larger presentation area provides opportunities that can enhance creativity, communications, information sharing, collaboration and functionality of your website.
The perception is that you’re on the cutting edge.
Because most sites are not designed for the larger screen sizes yet, your site will be viewed as ahead of the times. Your website will be perceived to be bigger and more visual, because it will be bigger and there is a great opportunity to use the larger display to separate your presentation from the competition. View your current website on a very high resolution monitor, and see how small it seems.
You’re not leaving the 5% behind.
Even though the new design will target the 1024×768 monitor, users with the smaller screens will still have equal access to your site. Just make sure care is taken to guarantee that the presentation will be effective on 800×600 monitors, even though users will need to scroll to see some page content.
All in all, our advice is to look seriously at the larger design option when you’re ready to redesign your site. In many ways, as the web continues to grow and evolve, website design and programming are becoming more demanding and complex. There are more browsers to support, and a need to incorporate the newest design ideas and technologies to keep your organization and its message at the forefront. We feel that designing for the larger monitors is an important next step.
