RSS Feeds: The Death of the 640×480 Resolution
I don't know exactly when it happened, but it happened. Almost no one is using the 640×480 resolution on their monitors anymore. I say almost because I know of at least one person that still uses it, and he is a moron.
By far, the most common screen resolution in use today is 1024×768. The numbers for resolutions higher than this continue to grow every day. Why is it then that way too many websites (and themes for common web site applications) are optimized for 800×600? I mean, 800×600 was the most common resolution for a very short span of time. Judging from my research, 1024×768 will eventually be relegated to an uncommon resolution as well.
Web site designers, I have advice for you. Stop using fixed-width screen designs and start using fluid-width screen designs. Test your displays in higher resolutions as well as lower resolutions. It's the simple way to future-proof your designs. Oh, and if you need help, get the Web Developer add-on for Firefox and test with the resize option frequently.
That is, unless you LIKE to reinvent the wheel over and over?
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RT, I used to have fluid width before, but I couldn't make attractive headers with that format, so I switched to a fixed width theme.
What do you think about my current fixed width theme?
Your theme looks good, Hari. I would have said something if it didn't. It's better than most other fixed width themes because it isn't a canned theme from somewhere else.
I used to like fluid themes, but getting a good header image is very difficult because images are fixed in size and they don't work too well with a fluid theme.
On the other hand, on a theme like yours, fluid works well because you have three columns. On a two-column layout fixed width looks better because in a wide-screen monitor, 2-column fluid width becomes too stretched.
Of course, what a majority of people don't realize that fluid width is not equal to 100% brower width. You can set any percentage width for fluid themes so that it does not cover the entire width of the browser window.
[...] I've been threatening to do this for a while. Actually it's only been 6 weeks (seems longer) since I said I'd do this in the comments of Untwisted Vortex's The Death of the 640×480 Resolution. [...]
Monitors are getting bigger and cheaper. I can't see how you'd have a usable website experience using small screen resolutions anymore.