800 x 600 : Does anyone REALLY use this anymore??

[Tyhe]

Heya,

when designing my site, I used to make them viewable for 800 x 600 but now I quit doing that, since I figured it's time for people to switch to a higher res.

My question is: does anyone use this resolution still, and if so, WHY? For heaven sake... why???

I also tell everyone that designers and computer pro's never use that low res... is this true??


Greetz and thanks!!

[Mark T.]

I voted "Yes, I use it, because I want to see what the crowd sees!", since I always design for 640 x 480 and higher. A lot of people don't have the financial means to upgrade their pc and are stuck at a maximum resolution of 800 x 600. I don't want to discriminate those people, just because they can't upgrade, and that is why I design for everything abobe 640 x 480.

I also find it a designer's challenge to make a page show up fine in all the different resolutions and browsers. This shows your page is quite a piece of work, and something you can be proud of.

[htmlite]

I have 2 monitors. Both are 15".

One is older and will not support any higher than 800x600.

The other can support higher resolutions, but I actually like this setting. It was the setting I used for the past 3 years and have gotten very used to its sizes of things viewed. A higher res makes many things look very small, especially text.

My counter stats still show a good number of people using 800x600 also...

800x600 %44.57
1024x768 %36.66
Other Resolution %6.22
1280x1024 %5.02
1152x864 %3.89
640x480 %2.58
1600x1280 %1.06

[Tyhe]

Thanks, these are some excellent points!
And I've seen my own stats, that showed a large percentage of people using that resolution, I just never really see people that actually do, so I started to wonder.

I'm also curious about people like myself, who work with a computer for a living, cause I just can't see people working in photoshop and dreamweaver in such a small resolution.

Greetz,

Tyhe.

[neil100]

I use 1024 x 768 and haven't used 800 x 600 for ages, mainly because of the programs I use such as flash or photoshop have tabbed menus everywhere and i simply need the room on screen, also things just look smoother in a higher resolution, however it seems from the stats below that I am in the minority.

I found these stats from http://www.thecounter.com/stats/2001/October/res.php

800x600 239309744 (54%)
1024x768 143183819 (32%)
640x480 20730296 (4%)
1280x1024 13953649 (3%)
1152x864 12305352 (2%)
Unknown 6343877 (1%)
1600x1200 2292673 (0%)

504088908 Visitors

these are the totals for this month so you can see that 800 x 600 is still the most commonly used resoultion. I expect if you are creating a very specific site for designers etc you can get aay with 1024 x 768, but otherwise you probably need to cater for 800 x 600.

[Patrick]

Well, my counters say that it is still the majority. But, I can't really think of anyone I know that uses it.

[creole]

Guys, think about it...you don't know anyone who uses it because most of the people you associate are computer literate.

Stats from www.echoecho.com show that %53 are using 800x600:

53% 800x600
32% 1024x768
05% 640x480
03% 1280x1024
02% 1152x864
<1% 1600x1200

It doesn't really matter if you know people who use that resolution or not, the fact is that if %53 of people are using it then you need to code for those people, unless of course you are creating a specialty site targeted to a more techie audience.

Tyhe...

You show a fair bit of naivete with this statement:

Originally posted by Tyhe
when designing my site, I used to make them viewable for 800 x 600 but now I quit doing that, since I figured it's time for people to switch to a higher res.

I think that more people should be giving me bags of money but that doesn't mean that I can go out and start spending money that I don't have.

One of the perennial frustrations of web designers is that the general public doesn't upgrade as often as we do. This means that while we have the newest technology (and code for it), our audience still languishes in the prison of 800x600 and can't see all our extra design on that 1024x768 background we created.

[Ravedesigns]

Sure would be nice if everyone all had the same OS, browser and screen resolution...wouldn't it?

I can't stand using 800x600 anymore...but the web stats for my site show it's split 50/50 between 1024x768 and 800x600...so I design for both.

I don't mind the resolution issues so much, but man...I wish Netscape would get on the same page as IE!

Regards,

Steve

[moonman]

I run at 1024x768, but according to my stats, the majority of my sites visitors (about 55%) run at 800x600. Boo them for making my life difficult.

All the sites I've created for clients are designed for 800x600 aswell.

[nwilson]

Bearing in these stats

800x600 239309744 (54%)

taken from the counter.com why on earth would you want to display sub-standard pages to over half your audience?

Nick

[Patrick]

Originally posted by creole
Guys, think about it...you don't know anyone who uses it because most of the people you associate are computer literate.

Yeah, I realize that.

[cow]

Originally posted by Ravedesigns
Sure would be nice if everyone all had the same OS, browser and screen resolution...wouldn't it?

that would be nice from a design standpoint but not from a consumer standpoint.

[cow]

Originally posted by Ravedesigns
Sure would be nice if everyone all had the same OS, browser and screen resolution...wouldn't it?

that would be nice from a design standpoint but not from a consumer standpoint.

[Tyhe]

Creole,

i do believe that (if there were a general effort) the designers could force the general audience to upgrade. If we were to make our designs strictly for 1024 and up, they would have too.

It's the same with frames, java and flash... people consider not using it because some people might not be able to watch it because of the missing plugins... i just say use it and make the people download it.


Greetz.

[Maelstrom]

If you are asking for development then I would respond differently just for the sake of users. I know many many people who still use 800x600 for various reasons. Including the higher resolutions hurting the eyes. I admit I don't like devloping for the lower resolutions but I try to even get it working at 640 x 480.

As for programming. Higher resolution is great you can fit more code on the screen..

[mgsica]

My opinon is, if your are doing a site for fun or just as a hobby. Make it however the hell you want.

But if you are making a site for a business or organization that is paying you money, or if you want it to be a real usefule web site for the world to see, you must design for the 800x600.

[Maelstrom]

This relates almost exactly to my previous reply but I feel I have to stress this knowing several people inmy small community who can't view a screen at 1024 x 768.

After reading many responses I feel that if you 'force' the people on the web to view at a higher resoultion you are being irresponsible. Many people (I would say most) can't afford the high end LCD monitors. I would tend to say that a lot of people find the regular monitors painful to view and even worse at higher resolutions. While I have been viewing monitors for 20 years most people haven't and their eyes can't handle the extreme reso's. The only way these people can view higher reso's is with the high end monitors.

Please I think most of the people view at 800x 600 because it is a good comprimise and they were already forced to by older developers.

[syntekz]

I usually run at 1024x728. 1280x1024 on my 17" monitor just hurts my eyes. (Don't want to wear glasses).

If I have to scroll anyway besides up or down I usually push that little X button found in the upper right hand corner of my Internet Explorer.

No matter how good a site looks (graphics, design, etc.); if it doesn't fit on the screen it makes the design 'crappy'.

Site scrolling sites are very appealing in my opinion.

[creole]

Originally posted by Tyhe
Creole, i do believe that (if there were a general effort) the designers could force the general audience to upgrade. If we were to make our designs strictly for 1024 and up, they would have too.

Then you're naive. If you did that, the only thing a user would HAVE to do is go to another website that provides the same information you do in a format their comptuer can handle.

No offense but that logic is seriously flawed. The people who produce a commodity do not dictate what that commodity's characteristics are, unless they want to go out of business. You can guide people in a certain direction but ultimately the consumer is the one who decides whether they like something or not.

What do you think if Yahoo designed their page to only be viewable in 1600x1200? You'd get a lot of people who wouldn't use Yahoo any longer.

I understand what you're saying and I too wish that there were some standards in place to make our jobs easier, but keep in mind, this industry is only 5-6 years old. It takes time to do these things right.

[Karl]

I use 1152x864 on my 17" monitor, but ideally for my eyes I should use 1024x768 - but i just need the extra room to work in.

The simple fact is that most of the users on the net now are families that aren't all that computer savvy, they bought their PC a while back, plugged it in and its worked since - it's not broke so why get a new montior so you can view the odd web site designed by someone who obviously wasn't worth paying (No offence to anyone in here who does design for higher resolutions only - but if you can't keep up with trends in the business then it's not a good sign). I personally design for 800x600, meaning that I use a width of 750 pixels on the page which makes sure it fits in all the browsers without having to fiddle with page margins etc.

[allie]

Just noticed the latest poll, which is very biased I might add. The majority of people on this forum are designers who work with the latest and greatest of monitors and technology that can utilize that technology, for a reason, web design. The same monitor and resolution that you comfortably develop in is NOT necessarily the same monitor and resolution that your users VIEW in. Keep that in mind.

You are designing for your audience, are you not? If not, you may be missing the boat! Personally, I have a 17 inch monitor that I could change to other resolutions but I choose 800x600 because it is the easiest on my eyes, which are neither the best or the worse, eyesight that is. A larger monitor/screen would not fit into my home environment easily. There are many like us. Personally, I don't really envision many ordinary home users going beyond a 17 inch monitor or to extemely high resolutions in the very near future. I could be wrong. Right now, I just don't see that happening.

Guess my question is just who are you designing for, yourself, or your users. If you think you will force your users into new equipment or software, think again. It ain't going to happen! Just try to look from the eyes of your user base. The success of your web site may just hinge on your ability to do just that.

[LadyLily]

Originally posted by allie
Just noticed the latest poll, which is very biased I might add. The majority of people on this forum are designers who work with the latest and greatest of monitors and technology that can utilize that technology, for a reason, web design. The same monitor and resolution that you comfortably develop in is NOT necessarily the same monitor and resolution that your users VIEW in. Keep that in mind.

Very true. I would put my screen to a higher reslotion, but my sibling and mother would go crazy and want me to set it back. These are the real audience, the "stupid" people. I have to see what they see and what they would do. That is the ultimate goal, to make it easy for the dumest person on the lowest resolution. Well, you get what I mean.

And 17" monitors with a high resoltuion too? I wouldn't be surprised if the pages you make are very awkward in regular sizing. I doubt many people change it, the setting for PCs is 800x600, most don't even know how to do it. Well....you still get what I mean.

Mu suggestions: Make it for 800x600. Be safe and sure rather than sorry and crying. Or fired.

[redemption]

a great number of people who still have 15 inch monitors would probably use a resolution of 800 x 600... i'm an exception cos i use 1024 x 768 on mine but i am an exception...

the pc's in my campus networks are mostly set to 800 x 600 so i think a majority of these people surf at 800 x 600... u dun want to give up on 800 x 600 yet my friend

[platinum]

I use 1024x768 res on my computer > on my other old one with 15" mon. it only goes upto 800x600. Anthing higher than that flickers all over the place. But there is a certain *size* that i like my desktop at, and on my 17" 1024x768 is it. I actually have IE set at an inbetween size, just like it that way

I don't design for 600x480 anymore, as most computers are set at at least that, but just about all my site are designed to work at any res above 800x600.

Be patient, it is more to do with hardware being replaced, than by choice. It will happen in the next year or two.

Most monitors that dont display 800x600 are connected to crap computers anyway, those people will most likly be upgrading soon.

[htmlite]

Originally posted by platinum
Most monitors that dont display 800x600 are connected to crap computers anyway, those people will most likly be upgrading soon.

I won't be upgrading anytime soon. Probably not for a few years yet. I just bought my PC new last year. It's not top of the line these days, but its not crap either. Dell P3 833. I believe the subject is about screen res and monitor size rather than computer capabilities though.

As mentioned before, I prefer the look and functionality at 800x600 on my 2 15" monitors. My eyesight is not bad either, but on higher resolutions, I find text to get rather small to read.

For design purposes, I agree with the other comments. If it is a client site, go by their specs and/or accomodate the lower res automatically. If it is personal site, go with what you like.

I do tend to come across some sites based on a higher resolution as they note it on their first page, or the obvious scroll bars appear. About half of these are done by "easy" page makers and the users don't realize that a lower res may come along and see the site rather differently. The only part I get hung up on is if they use frames and include the SCROLLING="NO". I usually can't get to the last part of their navigation or such and go on to a different site.

I think 800x600 are going to be a good portion of surfers for the next couple of years yet, so accomodate when possible and hope for the best.