Directory Pixel Width

[softstor]

I am in the process of customizing the look of a new directory.

I have seen some directories that have a width of 800 pixels and others that have larger widths.

What is the largest recommended width for a directory site?

[bruleo]

There is no 'recommeded width'; a lot of it is do do with what you prefer as a designer, or the constraints associated with your design. You might start with an 800 pixel width design, but might find later on that you need to add extra features that require the addition of an extra column.

Me... I prefer to keep most of my sites as near to the 800 (up to a max of 1000) width as I can, as a lot of internet user still prefer to use an 800x600 resolution (my Father being one of them!) and any wider can really be annoying to those users.

Other people swear by 'fluid' designs, where the divs automatically change size (usually in percentages), by whatever the width of the user's browser. I personally don't like them, not just in terms of the design problems that can occur, but often not every possibility has been thought of and often the displays go way off when resizing browsers.

Other people may make specific recommendations, but it really is up to you.

Bruce.

[seveneth]

Maybe better to make it 1024 x 768.
From my stats, most visitor use the above resolution, the next popular resolution is 1280 x 1024.
Very rare user that use 800 x 600 these days.