How wide can web pages be?

Factors which affect maximum page width Browsers and operating systems Suggested maximum width But users can complicate matters Where you can get more information

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Factors which affect maximum page width

The maximum width you can use without horizontal scrolling is not a simple number - it depends on several factors:

• The user's screen resolution.
• The browser, browser version and operating system.
• Some of your design decisions.
• Some decisions the user makes about how to run his / her system. We'll consider these on the next page.

Screen resolution

This discussion will focus on 800x600 pixels resolution:

• About 50% of users use 800x600, and very few use lower resolutions - see w3schools.com's statistics.
• Many of those who use higher resolutions will shrink their browser windows so they can see several applications' windows at a time.

Browsers and operating systems

Sadly they all differ. We're going to focus on Internet Explorer 4+ and Netscape 4+ on Windows and the Mac, because these account for the vast majority of users. But you need to check what your users use - especially if you expect them to access your pages from mobile devices!

Different combinations of browser and operating system have different default sizes for the margins round page content. The simplest solution is for you to set margins explicitly - version 4+ browsers allow this.

The browser's canvas is the area on which the browser will actually "paint" your page. Yes, it varies - no, there's nothing you can do about it. Fortunately the differences are very slight.

If you want to make your pages display without horizontal scrolling when viewed with Internet Explorer 4+ and Netscape 4+ on Windows and the Mac at 800x600, assume the maximum width is 723 pixels.

The next page describes things the user may do which affect the available width - usually reducing it!

webmonkey has a comprehensive review of factors affecting page size - height as well as width.

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