Designing Websites with Netbooks in Mind

When widescreen monitors first became mainstream a few years ago, web designers everywhere heralded the end of the limitations that the old standard computer monitors inflicted upon us.

We could make websites that were wider.  We had to learn to use CSS more effectively.  Now, there is a new contender to widescreen.

Challenges presented by Netbooks

While netbooks typically have wide screens, they are typically not optimized for ultra wide web formats.  This is definitely something you should consider when building websites.

A good rule of thumb is to never go wider than 950 pixels for all the pages on your website.  Any wider and you risk display issues with netbook wielding visitors.  Remember, netbook owners are often tech savvy (I own one) and they are making up a larger portion of computer owners every day.

Keeping Content Above the Fold

A good rule of thumb in web design has always been to keep important content above the fold.  The ‘Fold’ is the point at the bottom of your screen where you have to scroll down to see the rest of the content.

With larger monitors, you can generally assume that visitors will be able to see content that is 1000+ pixels down the page.  Not so with netbooks.

The narrower screen means that the fold will generally be around 600 pixels down the page.  It is a good practice to not put key content (especially on home pages) below this line.

A good tool (which I covered in my post on top Firefox Plugins for Web Designers) is Firesizer, which allows you to resize your browser window to specific dimensions so that you can test your site for different screen sizes.

Related Articles

Designing Websites with Netbooks in Mind
In what world is this not a netbook? (11″ Macbook Air / Netbook Comparison)
Which Screen Will Your User Be Using? Mobile, Nebook, Widescreen?  Will your website look good?