by: Ilan Touri

It is at times a common mistake for web designers, especially beginners, to create a website which is not optimised for various screen resolutions. With over 40 different screen resolutions, it is extremely important to optimise your web pages for the most popular screen resolutions so that your web pages can be viewed by a greater number of online visitors.

Here are some basic facts to consider when designing for screen resolutions:

- 800x600 is the minimum resolution offered on most PCs and notebooks. 800x600 is also the preferred viewing option for 14% of internet users.

- The most popular resolutions used by approximately 60% of online users is 1024 x 768, followed by 1280x1024 and other resolutions, with 26% of internet users.

Designing for a wide spectrum of resolutions is therefore essential. But how is this achieved?

The process of designing for all resolutions is achieved through a "lowest-to-highest" resolution technique. Which ever image editing or web building application you are using, it is important to set your working area or table width to a resolution within 800 x 600. A suitable area of 770 x 560 is recommended for best viewing in a web browser on a 800 x 600 screen resolution. This recommended area will not only alleviate horizontal page scrolling but will keep your pages user friendly and easy to read.

Designing web pages for all resolutions is especially useful for attracting and keeping visitors for a longer period of time on your site. Easy to use and read websites are always more likely to attract customers. A poorly designed and structured website with irritable horizontal scrolling will only drive away visitors and potential buyers.