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.
