Screen Resolution Statistics

Originally Posted on July 10, 2008 Last Updated on October 2, 2012

I was taking a look at some browser statistics today for various work-related reasons and noticed the following on my site:

Only 26% of screen resolutions are at 1024×768. That’s a big difference from just this past January, when they held closer to 50%. In fact, for the past three years, 1024×768 held between 50-60% of the screen resolution market, and has been the standard design size for most web designers for the past four years or more.
Most browsers are now running at 1280px wide, with a variety of heights. To me this means two things: widescreens are becoming more prevalent and will eventually be the standard and laptops, which are more often widescreen than desktop displays, are becoming more prevalent than their fixed-in-place predecessors.
27% of resolutions are 1440px or larger. The largest display comprising more than 1% was 1920×1200, with 4.8% of the share. The largest browser period was 2560×1600!

What does this all mean? Not all that much. Designing for 1024×768 is still a safe bet, and it should be noted that as screens and resolutions get better, it doesn’t always mean that people will be maximizing their browsers to fill all of that empty space. We’re finally getting to a point where having multiple windows open at once is a comfortable possibility, not to mention recent additions to browsers such as sidebars.

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Discussion

Pittsburgh Web Girl 17 Jul 2008

As screen resolution gets higher, the size of the image on the screen gets smaller. I think a lot of designers have not realized this math and I still see sites that are illegible because the 10 pixel text is so tiny. I use 14 pixels now, and it still can seem small.

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nathan 24 Jul 2008

I agree with you 100%. I never really got into the fad of making everything miniscule – apparently it was a designer’s visual choice in the matter, but it’s completely unusable.

Too many 18 year old designers and their cursed excellent eyesite!

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Lou 24 Nov 2008

Where are you getting those numbers from? “Only 26% of screen resolutions are at 1024?ó768”. Looking at various stats, it still seems to be around 45%. Could you list a few of your sources please?

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nathan 24 Nov 2008

Hi Lou,

Note that in the beginning I mention these statistics are “on my site”. Therefore, they shouldn’t be considered to represent the internet as a whole, but merely people who visit my website in particular. This page is typically considered a good source of information on Internet-wide statistics, however even that might not represent the Internet’s users as a whole.

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Lou 24 Nov 2008

Thanks for clarifying, Nathan. I’m actually in agreement with you, but I’m trying to find reliable proof. W3schools is a good source, but it’s too general for my purposes. They don’t give specifics above 1024×768, plus a lot may have changed since January.

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