Fixed Width or Liquid Layout?

[mwdesign]

I've been debating over this for a while now. For the past 2 years I have stuck with the 800x600px layout to cover the lower screen resolutions, with the height being left negotiable for the addition of extra content.

With the majority of screen resolutions exceeding the 800x600 I have stepped up to 900x625 (height negotiable with content required), fitting a 1024x768 screen resolution with ease. My question is, should I be sticking with the 800x600, moving on with the times of better monitors, or should I now be considering liquid layouts based on percentage widths? Any advice appreciated!

Thanks,

mwdesign

[aso186]

I say you should still keep those 800x600's in mind.

With a bit of work, liquid layouts can aid all users - those with bigger screens can enjoy the extra space they have, whilst smaller screens don't have to suffer the bane of horizontal scrollbars.

Unless your layout or design is extremely inflexible, there's really no reason to code otherwise.

You don't have to design sites that fill the entire screen area, which can end up looking stretched and distorted. I tend to use min and max widths, serving a max of around 1000px and a min of 750px.

[shalom_m]

Most of my sites are still 750px.
I just started two on 950px and am following the stats closely.

[mwdesign]

Thanks for your advice guys.

Had a client recently we designed a site for based on 800x600, they looked at the design in the office on pc and mac and in varying screen resolutions - happy with everything. Had a phone call at the end of the day - not as happy a customer - site obviously viewed on a very high res monitor - we ended up modifying to 900px width with repeat-x image/colour to fill the screen like aso186 mentioned, it did looked stretched - or more wide screen!

mwdesign