Web Page Dimensions

Web page dimension is one of the most disputed arguments in the web design world. Some developers will tell you without hesitating that an 800×600 page is the standard, while others prefer a more modern 1024×768. Obviously image size and content layout will be your major concerns when considering page dimensions.  As technology advances with a variety of monitor (computer displays) configurations, it's impossible to get your website looking the same in every platform, browser and screen resolution. Obviously, the common principle is to optimize for your target audience's most common resolution (which is hard to determine with any accuracy).

While many webmasters are still optimizing for 800×600 to ensure that the web pages look consistent throughout different monitor sizes we believe that optimizing for 1024×768, which is currently the most popular used screen size, is the better option.  With margins, this will provide for a 950 pixel working area for your web page conent (all the new templates we are adding for eVetsite III will be 1024 X 768).

For a Pixel to Inch conversion table, please click this link: 
(use 72 DPI for older CRT monitors, 96 DPI for newer flat screen monitors)
http://mystic-nights.com/poser/tools/pixels-to-inches.html

At this time we have 2 options for eVetsite users. Some templates are sized for the old standard 800x600 and some are using variable (liquid) layouts based on percentages of the browser window's size. They are flexible with the size of the windows as the user changes their window size. Variable or liquid layouts use the screen space efficiently for most screen resolution or browser windows sizes.

Another option to control screen width in the variable templates is by creating a two or three column fixed layout (table) optimized for either screen resolution, where users with 1024×768 or bigger resolutions see the entire page and users with 800×600 screen resolutions will have a scroll bar on the bottom to view the 3rd column. Obviously there are some aspects worth considering such as the percentage of your visitors that use small screen resolutions and which elements (content) will be left out of the initial (default) view when first visiting the page.

An Example of a variable template is own eVetsite at http://www.evetsites.com/  that uses a variable width template where the Home Page has a 3 column layout that controls the page width at 950 pixels. Subsequent pages flow (liquid) according to your browser settings:  http://www.evetsites.com/site/view/44539_WhyChooseUs.pml

Show below is one recent survey we noted from the Internet 
with a breakdown of common browser settings in use today.