"Google Browser Size" revisits the optimum blog width
In a previous post, we looked at the optimum “blog real estate”: the surface of your blog which is visible on a visitor’s browser window. I mentioned that, according to the statistics from 350,000 visitors my main blog, 91% was using a monitor width of 1,024 pixels or more. Based on that, I suggested you lay out your blog to a maximum width of 1,000 pixels (or anything between 950 and 1,000).
Google Labs just released “Google Browser Size”, a simple and coarse visualization of that recommendation: it takes a faded image of your site, and overlays it with a set of contours, showing “how many people see what of your site”. For example, the “90%” contour means that 90% of people visiting Google have their browser window open to at least this size or larger. The tool confirms our claim: 90% (I said 91%) see 1,000 pixels wide.
My first reaction was: “OMG, I am missing 10% of my audience with all my sites having 1,000 px widths.” Then again, “the useful” and “the optimal” are sometimes two different things: I would not want to change my blog width to 600 px, just to reach that 1% who still uses ancient hardware or software. Nor would I change it to 800 px to reach that extra 5%.
And that is not what this tool encourages you to do neither: Mostly, Google Browser Size is a handy tool to remind you which important parts of your homepage fall outside of how many people’s browser window. If your ‘donate now’ or similar buttons on a fundraising blog fail to be hit 10% of your audience, then I’d suggest to move it. 
Peter. Flemish, European, aid worker, blogger, expeditioner, sailor, traveller, husband, father, friend, nutcase. Not necessarily in that order. (
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This was very helpful. Thanks!
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