Optimizing Your Web Sites Real Estate

Screen Resolutions Explained: Your office mate has her monitor set to 800x600 pixels, while yours is set to 1024x768 pixels. You have more pixels, right? So how come everything looks smaller on your screen? It's because the pixels on your screen are smaller, so more of them fit into the same space. While this "more for less" concept sounds like a great idea, it can affect the overall usability and accessibility of your Web site.

Put More Into Less Space

The term "screen resolution" refers to the number of individual pixels that fit within a given space. When we're discussing an 800x600 resolution, the number 800 refers to the number of pixels that the monitor can display horizontally, while the number 600 refers to the vertical limit.

Monitor size and optimal screen resolution are closely linked. As you increase the resolution, the screen elements appear smaller. In fact, the information contained on a 15-inch screen set to 1024x768 may be so small as to be virtually unreadable. But the same information displayed at that resolution on a 17 or 21-inch monitor would look fine.

That's because a 15-inch monitor set to display at 800x600 pixels has a higher resolution than a 21-inch monitor set to the same display. That means a 200x300 pixel GIF image will look smaller on the 15-inch monitor than on the 21-inch monitor. An image that size would still be readable, but small navigation buttons quickly become illegible - even for visitors with great eyesight.

Design For Your Visitors

Ideally, your site should be completely device and browser-independent - but that's an almost impossible standard. The next best strategy is to design a site that looks good and performs well for the vast majority of your visitors. That takes research:

Are you taking advantage of all your web space real estate? Staying ahead of the web design industry, VBWebSites will start building wider sites optimizing and utilizing as much space as possible. Get your old site redesigned, placed on Search Engines and ranked higher. Get a Quote, Its Free!

Thankfully,
Brady Behrman
www.VBWebSites.net