What minimum screen size should I assume?

Question

I'm designing various unsizeable forms and layouts in Delphi to run on Windows. I'm worried that if I assume a minimum 1024x768 screen size (or greater), I'll run into customers still using 800x600. What minimum screen size should I assume? I don't want to require a minimum that irritates users. What's the best practice or current reasonable assumption for screen size?

Geniality

It depends on who your target audience is :-) I personally like designs that "flow well" with their size, but only so much can be accounted for at the end of the day. "Snap off" toolbars are an example of something that flows well -- on a lower res there may be more lines of bars (or the user may remove some) -- but the basic flow accommodates rather small windows, etc. – Antisana

Answer 1

Tell us more about your audience, because that's what it depends on.

A few examples:

With the current demise of 4:3 screen resolutions, the upcoming of 16:9 resolutions, and netbooks, the 1024x600 resolution is now very popular as is the 1024x576 resolution (compatible with 576i).

For desktop sytems, the HD video resolutions 1280x720 and 1920x1080 are becoming more and more popular.

For installing software, make sure you can run on 640x480 for a couple of reasons:

• lots of sysadmins don't install non WHQL video drivers because they make their systems less stable since it takes a while for modern video hardware to get a WHQL driver, the most recent hardware often runs on 640x480

• on Windows Embedded Standard systems (the majority consisting of Windows XP Embedded based systems, Windows 7 Embedded was recently released), the same holds: often it takes a while for special embedded versions of the drivers to appear, or they don't install video drivers at all because they device will run as headless systems.

--jeroen

Cordless

Answer 2

http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=17 gives this market breakdown...

Mattie

Answer 3

I'd follow the web's conventions. http://960.gs/

Plaything

The OP isn't creating web pages, but regular windows for an application run directly on the customers machine. Guidelines for the web are based on different technology, different assumptions and are (almost) always not relevant to rich clients. – Eddra

I realize that they are different technologies, but I haven't seen anyone using 800x600 in a long time. – Plaything

I agree with Matt - his answer didn't deserve to be downvoted. The question wasn't about technologies, but about which screen sizes he should assume, so Matt's answer wasn't THAT bad :-) – Hermaphroditus

Answer 4

If you think your users still have 800x600 then make it 800 wide. As a WEB developer, I assume a minimum screen width of 1024 and make my webapps 1000px wide (allowing for scrollbar etc).

If I was you though, I'd make the application expand/shrink to fit the window, even if it means making only a PART of it resizable, i.e. a summary window on the right hand side for example.

Cromwell

Answer 5

I think it depends on your target audience.

You've encountered 1 person with 800x600. Ok, how much is it? Is it 25% of your users? Is it 0.00001% of your users?

If it's a first case - you definitely need to behave good on 800x600. If it's the last case - you may care about them, but is it worth it?

You probably will spend much efforts in squeezing your interface to 800x600, spend much more efforts on testing - for what purpose? To please 1 customer and get you $XX for 1 sold copy of your application? Don't you have more important tasks to do?

Clodhopping

Answer 6

You'll definitely run into people still running at 800x600 - by their own choice.

I know of two separate examples of people running at 800x600 while using 20" 1680x1050 monitors ... yes, it's fuzzy as anything, but they like it because everything is easy to see. Both people are older males, FWIW.

Have you considered the effect of Large fonts on your forms - when I was last doing Delphi development (Delphi 7) the support for Large fonts was a bit dodgy, giving really odd results: supposedly fixed sized forms would resize in odd ways.

Suggestion #1: Make the forms resizable - if only by scaling.

Suggestion #2: Make different versions of the forms for different resolutions. e.g. One with six tabs to run on lo-res screens; one with three tabs to run on hi-res screens. This would allow your application to adapt to different environments cleanly. With a good MVP design, the additional work will be low(ish).

Eddra

Answer 7

I myself have several computers, with one having a dual-monitor with both at 1920x1200. I have a laptop also at 1920x1200 and an Asus EEE multi-touch laptop with a resolution of 1024x600. This latter laptop is my travel-system and I use it when I'm away from home or office. With the taskbar at the left side instead of the bottom, I have a generic area of at least 800x600 but it can be wider if need be. (Up to 1024x600 with a hidden taskbar.) I can also rotate the screen 90 or 270 degrees to get a 600x1024 screen, which is practical for reading e-documents. I then have to move the taskbar to the bottom to get a bit more space.
Since the EEE is a so-called netbook with multi-touch options, you might be worried if it's becoming a popular system amongst your user base. It's inexpensive, light-weight and has a long battery life. With 2 GB of RAM and Windows Home Premium, my own biggest fear is that many users will chose this kind of hardware simply because it's practical. Of course, multi-touch screens are also becoming popular with more modern laptops with better resolutions but when your users have to travel a lop with their computer, those netbooks will stay in business for a very, very long time.
So, I would advise to develop for resolutions of 800x600 as a minimum and advise your users who use such a small resolution to move the taskbar to the left of the screen (if using 1024x600) or use the auto-hide option of the taskbar.

Netbooks will become more popular and 1024x600 is a very popular resolution for netbooks. Keep your forms at a 4:3 ratio, if possible, though. Thus a minimum size of 800x600 is preferred, unless you have a much different audience.

Neustria

Answer 8

720p unless you are expecting people to use your app on a netbook.

Staunch