Current standard design width - 2013

Hi guys, just a quick question.

I usually create site content at the standard 960px wide and have done for several years now.

My question is, is there much call yet to go above this width?

I’ve noticed a few themes and templates that advertise bigger widths, but does anyone know the take-up on widths bigger than 960px. Anyone got any stats?

Cheers in advance

I mostly use 940 or 960.

You could do bigger, but there a still lots of notebook / tablet devices in which this is a good width.

Not to forget not everyone is sitting in front of a 27 inch monitor.

I don’t know any stats, but a nice example of taking use of a bigger width i think is smashingmagazine.com .

But much call at the moment, i don’t think so.

If you code “responsively” you shouldn’t worry about the initial width. If the site looks good it can even be 1920px if it scales down properly and looks perfect at 940px as well.

ive reverted to 1170 (responsive) these days

I just started doing new designs on a 1440px width, which scales down depending on the device it gets viewed on. I’m not sure why but I simply love it - looks much more refreshing to play around with the (usually) unused screen estate on the big screens instead of having the standard 960px all the time.

RubenBristian said

If you code “responsively” you shouldn’t worry about the initial width. If the site looks good it can even be 1920px if it scales down properly and looks perfect at 940px as well.

True, I understand what you are saying Ruben, but from an initial Photoshop layout you need a starting width surely.

I always design my layouts in Photoshop first before I even start looking at the code. Unfortunately I’m not one of these people who can design in code, I find it too restrictive.

I think it depends on the style and flow of the site. Some of mine our wide (a current theme in dev is real wide) but I’ve included the responsive nature so that it scales accordingly. There’s loads of cases where a 2000px wide container wouldn’t make sense though. :slight_smile:

Oh and I stink at code/design at the same time - usually get about 60% in PSD, then move to coding and go as I dev… as long as the base idea is either in the PSD or in the head.

In Responsive 1170 and Non Responsive 960. Tablet 768 Mobile 320 :slight_smile: