Optimal Screen Resolution for Web Design (2010 Update)
Back in the May 2008, I wrote a post that analyzed what the best screen resolution size was for designing a website. I thought it would be a good idea to see how screen resolutions have changed in a year and a half. You can see the results from 2008, along with updated statistics from late 2009.
May 2008 Results
Websites Analyzed: 6
Total Visits: 185,637
Date Range: January, 2008 – May, 2008
| Resolution | Visits | % |
| 1024 x 768 | 82,351 | 44.36% |
| 1280 x 1024 | 29,989 | 16.51% |
| 1280 x 800 | 28,790 | 15.51% |
| 800 x 600 | 10,858 | 5.85% |
| 1440 x 900 | 10,242 | 5.52% |
| Other | 23,407 | 12.61% |
January 2010 Results
Websites Analyzed: 4
Total Visits: 167,096
Date Range: October 2009 – December 2009
| Resolution | Visits | % |
| Larger than 1440 x 900 | 40,128 | 26.60% |
| 1024 x 768 | 38,229 | 25.34% |
| 1280 x 800 | 31,577 | 22.51% |
| 1280 x 1024 | 22,824 | 15.13% |
| 1440 x 900 | 8,304 | 7.52% |
| Smaller than 1024 x 768 | 3,210 | 2.90% |
Updated browser information from W3Schools
| Date | Higher | 1024×768 | 800×600 | 640×480 | Unknown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2009 | 57% | 36% | 4% | 0% | 3% |
| January 2008 | 38% | 48% | 8% | 0% | 6% |
| January 2007 | 26% | 54% | 14% | 0% | 6% |
| January 2006 | 17% | 57% | 20% | 0% | 6% |
| January 2005 | 12% | 53% | 30% | 0% | 5% |
| January 2004 | 10% | 47% | 37% | 1% | 5% |
| January 2003 | 6% | 40% | 47% | 2% | 5% |
| January 2002 | 6% | 34% | 52% | 3% | 5% |
| January 2001 | 5% | 29% | 55% | 6% | 5% |
| January 2000 | 4% | 25% | 56% | 11% | 4% |
As we can see, computer screens are getting bigger and bigger. The 800×600 resolution is almost non-existent now compared to 5-10 years ago when it was the dominant resolution. For web designers this is important data to analyze since it will effect how sites are being built. The sites that we design are created for at least a 1024 x 768 browser, and actually 1280 x 800 and bigger are starting to become the norm.
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[...] for Web Design Posted by Mark Thompson in Design/DevelopmentMay 30th, 2008 | View commentsCommentsUPDATE: 2010 Screen Resolution StatisticsScreen resolutions have changed a lot over the past 8 years. Computer monitors have migrated to [...]
Optimal Screen Resolution for Web Design (2010 Update)…
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[...] Design a Site for Optimal Screen Resolution [...]
Thanks for your updation
Since browsing with mobile devices seems to be upcoming, I would expect that their smaller screen sizes will soon start showing up in statistics as well.
Hi Mark! I'm curious as to your thoughts on designing twitter backgrounds…looks like your twitter acct is designed for a 1280 x 800, but I'm reading that custom backgrounds should still be done at 1024 x 768.
That is actually a great question. I am not 100% sure, since I really am not a web designer. I know when I was working with the web designer who did my Twitter background, we had to upload the image then set the background color to match the image color.
I would probably just do a Google search for “Screen Resolution for Twitter Backgrounds” or something similar to that.
I would love to hear what you find out
Sorry I couldn't be of more help.