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And some important information to consider when designing a web site or hiring a web designer, following is an update on the state of the browser. That's why Visionefx puts the time and effort into understanding the latest developments. But it's key to outstanding web site design, staying on top of the ever-changing browser world is not easy.

The install embeds itself into your system files and is difficult at best to fully uninstall. Don't install this release unless you are a PC guru. We brave few have migrated to the IE7 Beta release which is quirky at best. And most users are using a display with 1024x768 pixels or more, xP is the most popular operating system, internet Explorer 6 is the dominating browser, currently.

These users include the crowd who just can't let go of their 20-pound laptop or their 13" CTR monitor. But a large minority are still viewing at 800x600, as of 2006 most users are viewing at 1024x768 and higher. Web design professionals have long debated over whether to design web sites for smaller screen resolutions of 800x600 or 1024x768.

Robust display, that's good news for designers advocating a larger. Just recently Yahoo.com adopted the 1024px display for their homepage.

You can see there is quite a difference in the left and right-side screen overflow. Open two browser windows and compare MSN.com to Yahoo.com. Following are some specific graphic examples of how 800px versus 1024px can effect the overall look and display of a web design.

Multiple Browser Types and Versions

Screen resolution and computer type also affect usability as follows: The browser type and version used by web surfers affects web usability in several ways.

Or certain features may not work, users may have to scroll too much, the text may be too big or small, the colors may be wrong. They may not look as you intended, 1) Your web pages may or may not be viewable by users
2) If they are viewable.

Firefox and Konqueror, epiphany, linux (Fedora Core 3), safari, opera, mozilla, iE, the most popular for Mac OS (Operating Sysytem) include Firefox. Netscape and Opera, mozilla, firefox, the most popular PC browsers for Windows include Internet Explorer (IE). Mac) and the most popular browsers used by web surfers today, you must also consider user operating systems (PC, when designing a web site.

Thecounter.com/stats and Webreference.com/stats/browser.html Upsdell.com/BrowserNews, good web references for current browser usage statistics include W3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp,

Layout and Browser Real Estate

Some designers leave blank space or incorporate the background or surrounding space into the design. The biggest challenge for designers today is designing a web site that takes this unused browser real estate into consideration.

This is referred to as a 'resolution dependent layout'. Another way to utilize the entire browser is to use divs or tables that expand or contract to the users browser/screen resolution. Elements and colors to blend or connect the web site to the remaining portion of the browser, an experienced designer uses shapes. I call this the full-screen fake!

Which adds up to a horizontal display of 1024px, advertisements are placed in the 224px over flow. Images and video are designed to display comfortably at 800x600, links, the main body of the web site containing news. This method is often used by popular web sites like espn.com. Some web sites may use the extra browser space to place advertisements off to the right of the screen.

Clean Design is Good Design

An experienced designer will strategically use 'white space' to facilitate a good read or flow. Text and graphics are aligned to create a natural 'reading flow' or 'eye flow'. Web layout follows the same rules as print design. Sometimes it's the hardest thing in the world to convince a client that you do not have to fill every nook and cranny on the screen.

You Decide

And design from there, consider how your visitors will interact with your web site content and navigation. Don't let technology constrain or dictate the final design of your web site. Different sites attract different audiences. You have to decide what works best for you or your client, in the end.