The BBC news site has today upgraded it's size to 1000 pixel width, indicating that the BBC now regard 1024x768 as pretty much the minimum screen resolution. The BBC famously commissioned a document some years ago which looked at what should be on their website and why. This document was subsequently leaked and become something of a benchmark for web sites due to it's thoroughness and their determination to have the broadest possible appeal.

 

For a long time the BBC stuck to a site less wide than 640 pixels to accomodate people still vieiwing the web at 640x480 and there was some fuss when they eventually moved to a site that reflected the dominance of 800x600 (this being after Windows XP didn't even recognise 640x480 as a resolution)

 

Today's launch has been a much softer affair. They've just done it. There has been no great fanfare or announcement - possibly because there is still a segment of the web using 800x600 and they don't want to openly admit that they're leaving them behind, but truthfully we're all feeling the restrictions of working within this boundary. Of course it is possible to write scripts which discern your resolution and serve up an appropriately sized site, but in my experience of the SME market very few of them want to pay for such niceties. If 93% of people are viewing the web at 1024x768 or greater, let's make the most of all that extra screen real-estate.

 

If you have no idea what screen resolution is you might want to read this article.