How wide to make a website in pixels?

[xslamx]

Haven't made a website in a WHILE, and I realize the game has changed. How many pixels wide are people designing at these days, as a rule of thumb?

[hans-g.]

Hi,

I remember an answer of Nancy O. which I copied into my own reference book:

Depends on your target audience.

320px wide for smartphones (portrait)

480px wide for smartphones (landscape)

500-770px wide for tablets

990-1280px wide for laptops

1000-1600px wide for desktops

Increasingly, modern web developers are using Media Queries and external stylesheets to cater to various device widths. You can see a demo on this page (resize your viewport to 480px): http://alt-web.com/TEMPLATES/CSS-centered-round-boxes.shtml

On the other hand, as a rule, you should choose a page width that is comfortably viewed by the majority of your site visitors without having to use the horizontal scrollbar. Please have a look here > Google labs - Browser Size:  http://browsersize.googlelabs.com/

Hans-Günter

[xslamx]

It's a pretty basic site for an exercise studio. I'm guessing my target audience is for people on laptops and desktops, which seems to hit about 90% of the people out there. If I'm figuring most people have their screen resolution at 1280, what leeway should I give to accomodate browser frame, etc... 1200? Is that too big? Are people designing sites at 770 to hit the iPad viewers these days?

[hans-g.]

Hi,

I for my part I prefer to use 1024 px because my clients, my friends and acquaintances are served best with it. I would suggest: try it out and look for the responses, AND personally: the best result are often based on 'gut feeling' rather than on proper measurements.

Hans-Günter

[osgood_]

I set my width at 980px.

I'll just add that I haven't had any of my clients asking about mobile device support....yet.

[mhollis55]

Depends on your market. Obviously someone for a cell phone might be different from someone with a computer.

But understand that whatever you do needs to try to fit into 90% of the browser windows out there. The best tool for that is Google's Browser Size, which shows you very clearly. And it should also guide you into the best places to put a "buy now" or "Donate to us here" button.

[M_R_Biesheuvel]

My website is 1000 px wide, I checked it, it can be viewed on an ipad and google analytics learned me that most users are not even mobile users.

http://www.dreamweaverfan.nl