Girth!

;) Now that I have your attention...

Is it time to design a wider page yet? Yeah, I know this question gets asked periodically but trends change constantly with monitor resolutions.

I'm really struck by a nice wide page when I see them. And I would love to design a wide site but I'm afraid to pull the trigger. I really want to be slightly ahead of the curve but i don't want to turn off many surfers. But some of the highest traffic mainstream sites are already designed for 1024px.

Some questions that spring to mind...

Does it matter if the target audience are broadband users?

Do most surfers maximize their windows and how many have righthand docked toolbars or aps?

To upsize to 1024, do you just make design elements larger or do you cram more information along the width of the page? Remember, everything gets smaller as resolutions increase. Set your screen resolution to 800px wide for a moment and see how ridiculously large everthing is.

Are surfers with smaller monitors going to be totally turned off or are they getting used to horizontal scrolling as more mainstream sites are going wider?

I know some of you will suggest to use percentages when setting table width but I hate how that compromises the intended look of a site and is not an option for me.


So, what do you think? Is it time to go to 1000px wide yet... or even 1250 yet?

Not 1250....

Too many laptop users for that.

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Originally Posted by Xstr8guy

;) Now that I have your attention...

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And here I was thinking you had a great new site with men of wide girth to promote. :(

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Originally Posted by Xstr8guy

Does it matter if the target audience are broadband users?

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No, what matters is their monitor size and the resolution that they have their monitors set at.

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Originally Posted by Xstr8guy

Do most surfers maximize their windows and how many have righthand docked toolbars or aps?

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Based on the dozens of peoples setups that I've personally seen of various skill levels and setups, I'd say no.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xstr8guy

Are surfers with smaller monitors going to be totally turned off or are they getting used to horizontal scrolling as more mainstream sites are going wider?

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I haven't really noticed that. I suppose some will suffer through it; I've yet to meet anyone who likes scrolling.

On a related note: Why anyone would for instance surf a non-wap enabled site with their palm pilot or cell phone is beyond me; but I have seen it done.

Anyhoo, just a couple of quick observations and thoughts from me.

Mmmm abostonboy brings up an interesting point -- I actually know alot of people who use laptops as their primary computer including for surfing the web.

P.S. Not that this has anything to do with this discussion but WTF is up with the current little slogan under my nick?! :wtf: :(

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Originally Posted by robin

P.S. Not that this has anything to do with this discussion but WTF is up with the current little slogan under my nick?! :wtf: :(

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Just change you user title in the control panel...
Go to User CP>edit profile and change user title.

I believe GWW just pulls up a new random user title when you pass a certain post count. I'm sure it's not meant to be offensive... just funny. ;)

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Originally Posted by robin

No, what matters is their monitor size and the resolution that they have their monitors set at.(

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I was just suggesting that broadband users were more likely to be more sophisticated than dialup users and have bigger monitors. Therefore, a site aimed at broadband users could safely have a wider page.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xstr8guy

Just change you user title in the control panel...
Go to User CP>edit profile and change user title.

I believe GWW just pulls up a new random user title when you pass a certain post count. I'm sure it's not meant to be offensive... just funny. ;)

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Yeah, thanks Xstr8guy, that's not a funny one in my opinion -- it sucks.

Oh, I'm going to email you tommorow when I get back in. Need some un-related help from ya. :)

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Originally Posted by Xstr8guy

I was just suggesting that broadband users were more likely to be more sophisticated than dialup users and have bigger monitors. Therefore, a site aimed at broadband users could safely have a wider page.

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yeah, one would possibly think so -- but my answer is still partially based on the peoples set up that I've seen and they're all on broadband.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by robin

Mmmm abostonboy brings up an interesting point -- I actually know alot of people who use laptops as their primary computer including for surfing the web.

P.S. Not that this has anything to do with this discussion but WTF is up with the current little slogan under my nick?! :wtf: :(

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Oh I was just pointing out when he mentioned 1200+ that many surfers w/ laptops and many have the weird widescreen 1024 by whatever it is on the 15 inch monitors. Or some even use the smaller 14 inch babies.

Usually when I join a porn site, it's when I am travelling and using a laptop and can't get any cock wherever I may be.

Here is a good example of an attractive 1000px wide design...

http://www.edengay.com/

If you have examples of 1000px wide design, post them in this thread.

http://www.prideaccess.com/ looks great at 900px

Well last I heard was that it was a toss up on how many used full screen versus pre set. I think too that one should check to see what the default factory setting is, in order to get an idea of what the majority use. I mean many surfers simply don't play with their screen resolution from when they pull the machine out of the box.

Wider and longer the page, the more elements you can put into it, and the more elements you have the longer the page takes to load. Simple fact of life, so if your client is on dial up it will make a difference, so yes, whether they connect via dsl or broadband does matter to a degree unless you maintain a strict page load speed policy in your design.

I know from my own stats that 1024 is now a majority of viewers. So for me I can slowly increase my width from the 770px size to where it is now running at 800px. I'd qualify that too by looking at the increase in firefox users. WIth the sidebar option you still can't go full width. THat should be taken into account.

my 2 cents :coffee:

I'm trying some new wider designs on a couple of projects. I'm certainly having more design space to play with. When I looked at the stats available on the web it seemed that at least 70% of the people wouldn't have to scroll horizontally. I think 1000's a bit wide, I'm trying 900 pixels.

Cheers,
Michael

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Originally Posted by Dzinerbear

I think 1000's a bit wide, I'm trying 900 pixels.

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I've seen your new designs and I love them. But really, if you are going 900 px wide, why not go to 1000?

There are very few surfers using a monitor resolution between 800px and 1024px. The most common after 800x600 is 1024x768. And then it jumps to 1280x1024.

It seems like you are taking the safe route at 900px but you may just be giving up some design space for no reason.

bumping for some more page views and hopefully more opinions


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This very topic came up in a recent discussion when making some decisions about what sites a client is developing should be made for 800x and which ones he might consider going to a layout that fits the 1024x presentation. What it came down to is

1. the niche and content quality (bought vs exclusive and hi res/dvd quality vs med/low)

and

2. what countries would be the primary marketing targets/buyers

If you're producing your own content, and streaming DVD quality videos, and offering hi res photos, you're obviously targeting people that have a fast computer system and a broadband connection. If they have that, it's very likely they also have 19" and up for a monitor. Designing something to look good at 1024x becomes a very sensible approach under these parameters.

My suggestion is to keep the design to 800 or less.