Ask YC: Canonical web site width?

3 pointslbrandy2 comments

I haven't made a "real" website in awhile. Do you guys still aim for 800 or have we moved passed that phase yet? Is 1024 the new standard?

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Definitely depends on your audience. If you have a tech-savvy audience, it's a good bet that the vast majority of your site's visitors are at 1024px. But if you're targeting, say, a certain subset of baby boomers who may not have upgraded their computers in a while, accommodating 800px might be a good idea.

One thing you can do is find a very popular Web site (like at the Amazon / Ebay / Facebook level) that targets the same audience you do and see what they're doing with their design.

I believe without empirical evidence that 1024 is the new standard. If it is possible, I suggest writing the web site such that it is browser-width agnostic; that it shrinks and expands gracefully. If not possible, then I conclude that the web site is some kind of graphically pleasing design which is probably targeting a specific audience, and in such case it is known whether the bulk of that audience will have modern screen resolutions. If this is not the case, I would simply stick with 1024 and bite the bullet. Good luck.

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