Are there any guidelines for laying out screen "real estate?"

Posted by Corey on Pro Webmasters See other posts from Pro Webmasters or by Corey
Published on 2011-01-02T02:36:58Z Indexed on 2011/01/02 2:59 UTC
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I'm wondering if there is any information about creating a decent page layout so that your website will appeal to users of all resolutions.

For example, the optimal width for pages. It seems like on my resolution, most websites have their content centered and covers about 80% of the page, which is easy on the eyes.

Or maybe the height of the website's logo/header -- some sites I stumble upon have a huge logo with links or navigation under it, making it so that I need to scroll down to see the actual content, like articles or images (these sites don't keep me for very long).

I understand that every user is different and may have browser extensions, page zoom or may be running some ancient system that displays in 640x480. I'm not looking for a "best" solution, but rather, some guidelines about designing to accommodate different resolutions.

Basically, how can I make sure that I don't design a page where a paragraph might display in several easy-to-read lines on my resolution, but it turns into a single line on a 1920x1080 resolution and makes it hard for the user to follow?

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