Screen resolution question

[Annalyzer]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this question because it is not specific to html or css and it's more of an opinion question than a technical one so feel free to move it if there is a better place.

Over the past few months, I have been tracking stats on our website - http://www.ucancap.org - and find that less than 10% of our viewers use a screen resolution lower than 1024x768. My question is this: Is there a generally accepted rule for what screen resolution a website should be designed for?

The current site is really not pretty in certain resolutions and/or screen sizes (I was going for a completely fluid layout and failed miserably). The revamped site will be solid divs and tables with a more modern look, but I'd like to create it for 1024x768 and higher resolutions.

I've only created a couple of websites, so I don't have the experience that many of you bring to this forum. I would appreciate a more professional opinion.

[eWish]

Here is an article that discusses this question. In my opinion I would design it for the masses. This way more visitors would have a better experience. You can not please them all.

--Kevin

[Annalyzer]

Great article, thanks!

[drhowarddrfine]

The thing to remember is that many people will not view your site full screen. My wife has a huge screen and rarely has her browser set to that. I measured it once when she was out of her office and it was somewhere around 800x600. I frequently surf with a small than full screen browser, too. Especially when I'm trying to take notes of what I'm reading.

Sometimes it's just not possible to make a page look good in a smaller size. I still make sure my sites look good at 640x480 because I know that when I shrink my browser, that's about where it lands.

[Annalyzer]

So, what I'm taking from this is that I should go ahead and design the screen for a higher resolution, but make sure that the "mission critical" content is limited to the top left 640 x 480 or at least 800 x 600?

I'm glad I asked. That puts a whole new spin on my redesign. I guess I'd better start by identifying which content is "mission critical."

Since the website has two target audiences - those who use our services and those who help us provide those services - this is going to be a really tough design I think. My original sketches for the redesign had a menu on each side of the screen; one for each target audience.

Well, back to the research stage. Thanks for your help! If you have any more helpful ideas, I'd love to hear them.