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I was wondering, are there any statistics available on what size users have their browser set to nowadays? I know the screen resolutions (we have analytics, which shows those as well) but I doubt a lot of people with 1280*xxx and higher still browse full-screen though.

My boss is determined to keep our website 900px wide though, because that way people with 1800*xxx resolutions can have two browser windows next to eachother without having to scroll horizontally. I have never seen anyone browse with two adjacent browser windows like that except here at my current job, so I'm kind of doubting whether this is the best decision or just his personal preference.

Anyone that can help out here?

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    the answer you accepted is obviously outdated, you should reconsider changing your decision and pursue for newer stats. See also: meta.webmasters.stackexchange.com/questions/719/… Mar 5, 2012 at 14:13
  • @Litso, I've never seen anyone browse with two browsers side by side either I think that method of browsing the web is extremely rare. I would look at the 960 or 1140 grid system cssgrid.net and 960.gs 960px has been very popular design wise for a few years. Now even wider resolutions are coming around. 900px is just a random number and to close to 899 lol
    – Anagio
    Mar 13, 2012 at 11:33

3 Answers 3

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Google Browser Size

http://browsersize.googlelabs.com/

This is a super tool which should fill all your needs, allowing you to even load in a URL and see what it looks like in different resolutions.

enter image description here

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  • Damn, that is awesome. How did that not pop up in Google when I searched for it? Mar 10, 2011 at 12:09
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    @Litso, yeah it is great! One thing to remember is if your page is centrally aligned with a fixed width, you should resize your browser window smaller so the margins on either side of the content reduce.
    – Tom Gullen
    Mar 10, 2011 at 12:09
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    Is the information on the Google Browser Size tool up-to-date? The image it uses to overlay is called: browsersize.googlelabs.com/static/… So I'm assuming it may be outdated.
    – Sandro
    Mar 11, 2011 at 17:22
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    The googlelabs site has not been updated since 2009. Given that growth in use of both large monitors and small ipads, I'm not sure this data is going to be too helpful now. Also I would guess the average monitor sizes will vary by country.
    – user11099
    Oct 30, 2011 at 21:19
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    This site no longer exists. Jul 1, 2014 at 19:36
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There are up-to-date stats at http://gs.statcounter.com/

Just select "Screen resolution" from the stat dropdown. At the time of this writing, it seems that 1366 * 768 is the rage.

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    Awesome, but it's still only about screen resolution, not browser viewport size. Sep 3, 2012 at 12:51
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    The closest I can get to a concrete number is the one used by 960.gs: cameronmoll.com/archives/001220.html (between 40 and 50px in horizontal used by the chrome and scrollbars). Sep 3, 2012 at 16:17
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http://www.impressivewebs.com/browser-usage-stats/

A collection of potential web statistic providers and information.

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    This statistics actually answers different question. It's not the screen resolution that matters but the visible area. Remember all the stupid "bars" in IE? Mar 13, 2012 at 9:57
  • Very true. Hard to gauge the "new fold" now days with the increasingly different models of browsers, smart phones, and tablets. Seems like designing for bigger and more modern screen resolutions is a lot less common these days, and the 960gs appears to be a perfect middle ground when it comes to ultimately deciding which resolution to accommodate.
    – SEO
    Mar 13, 2012 at 19:32
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    I'd be wary of linking to anything from w3schools - especially in light of things like w3fools.com Mar 13, 2012 at 22:20
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    Wow, I had no clue. Have edited my answer. Thought about deleting, but people should be aware of this information. Thanks Mike.
    – SEO
    Mar 14, 2012 at 0:27

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