Target Screen Size for Web Design

Most new screens are HD resolution. These screens are very wide to be a target width for web page design. Instead, many websites still target a minimum width of 1024 pixels. The IBM XGA display was 1024x768 pixels, and nobody has seen an XGA monitor for decades. Never the less, I am thrilled that the de facto standard has survived for one simple reason. I like using three monitors. I have a 1920x1200 monitor in the middle and two 1280x1024 monitors on the sides. The latter are in portrait mode, so they are 1024 pixels wide. They are perfect for viewing most web pages.

Occasionally, I want to see four windows, so I split the large middle screen. Microsoft Windows supports "gestures", that lets you perform certain actions. If you jam a window against the top of the screen, for example, it maximizes on that screen. If you jam the window against the left or right side of the screen, it fills the left or right half of the screen. On the middle of the screen, there is no left or right. (The pointer moves to the next screen.) Instead, you can use Windows-Left and Windows-Right to get the same effect.

It's useful to split the big screen. The problem is that HD divided by two is 1920 / 2 = 960, which is slightly less than 1024, the target width for most websites. It means that you can't see a full web page most of the time.

I propose that website designers no longer target 1024 pixels width, but instead target 960 pixels width. It's 6% fewer pixels, which will make negligible difference in practice, and it will allow two full web pages side-by-side on an HD screen.