When one begin the design of a website, the question of the width of the site to make happens quickly. We browse the web mainly through three channels: through our computer screens (increasingly large), our laptops (wider than tall) and our smartphones (fairly small). What is then the ideal size of web sites?

1.  What is the average resolution of screens?

For the answer, one must know the resolution of the most common screens used to browse the web at the moment. Let's see what tells us some analysis tool, such as W3C Counter.

Most screens have a resolution of 1024x768 or 1280x800/1024. These statistics are from May 2010, so do not forget to check the evolution of these data when you need it. In recent months, the trend is towards screens that are larger than higher. The resolutions in position 2 and 3 were higher in January 2010.

Also according to W3C Counter, the various smartphones operating on the internet represent a maximum of 0.8%. Should we take into account the size of these small touch to create sites that fit well for both the resolutions of our desktop screens and our smartphones? Or should we create specific sites for them?

Let's go back to the ideal width of our web site.

2.  How to compute the width of the site?

Once again, we have to ask the good questions.

When you are on the Internet, do you use the browser window in full screen? No, or at least, many are people who prefer to keep an eye on other applications, such as a small window of a social network.The desk has to host several open windows and the browser window is often the widest.

What is the size of the borders potentially used by the graphic theme? This parameter is important to take into account! Every user has the choice of his own theme. Some themes have broad margins of other ultra thin. It is customary to reserve 30 total pixel for the graphic theme. This includes an scrollbar that may appear on the display of a long web page.

This brings us to a site with a width between 900 and 950 pixels. You can design on good basis now.