screen resolution stats

As you design a web site, never assume the world is viewing cyberspace from your monitor.

One place I've noticed some big ut-oh's are on the backgrounds people use on Twitter. Your background may look like it's filling the screen on your monitor, but I've seen quite a few where the background doesn't go all the way to the right.

Reminds me of a comment I left on a photoblog. I said, "Exceptional!" and because I'm normally wordy, the site owner emailed me and said, "So I guess that's your word for 'it sucks'?"

I emailed the person back and said, "No, my word for that would be, 'uh, yeah, not so much'," which is precisely what I think when a site has been designed and the designer has failed to plan for all screen resolutions.

stats in 2006:

• 1024 x 768 = 28%
• 1280 x 1024 = 13%
• 1280 x 800 = 8%
• 800 x 600 = 7%
• 640 x 480 = 6%
• 1152 x 864 = 2%
• 1680 x 1050 = 1%
• 1400 x 1050 = 1%
• 1800 x 1440 = 1%
• 1440 x 900 = 1%
• 1024 x 640 = 1%

stats in 2008:

• 640 x 480 = 0%
• 800 x 600 = 8%
• 1024 x 768 = 48%
• Higher = 38%
• Unknown = 6%

stats in 2009:

• 640 x 480 = 0%
• 800 x 600 = 4%
• 1024 x 768 = 36%
• Higher = 57%
• Unknown = 3%

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