Poll: Do you maximise your browser window?
It seems like every time somebody mentions browser size, screen resolution or fixed/fluid/elastic width, there will be a side discussion going on about window/application maximising. It happened here a few months ago when I posted Resolution vs. browser size vs. fixed or adaptive width.
I thought it would be interesting to know the habits of people visiting this site, so if you have a minute or two please post a comment with answers to the folllowing questions:
- Do you normally maximise your browser window, i.e. make it cover the entire screen? (Your answer should reflect what you do during normal use, not while holding presentations or similar.)
- What is the resolution (in pixels) of your primary screen?
- Which operating system do you use?
My own answers are as follows:
- No.
- 1600 by 1200 pixels.
- Mac OS X
After a couple of weeks I’ll disable comments on this post, evaluate the results, and post a follow-up.
Update (2007-03-31): Well, with the absolutely incredible response this got, I am now disabling comments after less than two days instead of after a couple of weeks.
It will take me long enough to go through over 900 comments, of which many include multiple setups.
Thanks very much for participating, and I’ll be back with the results once I’ve found the time to do this…
Update (2007-04-02): Comments are open again after some feedback from visitors who would like to see this post break the 1000 comment limit. So let’s do that :-).
Update (2007-04-05): Ok, this time comments are really closed. 1071 comments (!) should be enough to do something with. Look for a follow-up in a week or two.
Update (2007-04-15): I have published the results of the poll in Poll results: 50.4% of respondents maximise windows.
- Previous post: Truwex Online: An accessibility and quality validator
- Next post: WCAG 2.0 released today
Comments
Web sites that forces me to side scroll (I rarely consider resizing my window an option) annoy me royally.
Maximized for personal browsing and not for working. If I'm working, I'm constantly changing size and shape to check pages, as well as switching to other browsers or applications.
Dual monitors One vertical - 1024 x 1280 and one horizontal - 1280 x 1024
Windows XP unfortunately
I had to increase my screen resolution from 1152 when people started going to fixed width designs at 1024, just so I could continue to keep my Opera panels open while browsing. I'm not bothered by that now, but I would be if my monitor was any smaller.
Work
Home
Honestly, I am surprised at the number of people that don't. I can't stand looking at a website with Desktop icons/backgrounds around the browser window.
At work:
At home:
I don't find Windows very conducive to non-full screen usage.
I'm curious to see where you're going with this, Roger. I know some people consider it to be an accessibility issue when a web site does not fit horizontially in the bowser window, but I think that's incorrect. It may be a convienence issue, but even if I make my page 2000 pixels wide, the content is still going to be accessible on an 800px wide screen.
Good poll, though. It's always good for web designers and developers to know more about the demographics of web users, to be sure. :)
[ If I had a bigger screen, I would not use a maximized window. ]
I have different settings for my home and school environments.
At home:
At school:
No... 1024 but I do lengthen it full height. Full screen on a Cinema is just annoying ;-)
My typical browser window is about 1100 x 800 for most browsing.
Home:
Work:
I'll give 2 answers because I'm a recent "switcher", so here's what I did on my Windows XP machine:
On my MacBook Pro
Desktop: 1. Yes, (on one screen) 2. 1280 x 1024 (x2) 3. Win Vista
Laptop: 1. No 2. 1920 x 1200 3. Win Vista
Work:
Home:
At Home:
At Work:
If on main monitor: 1. No. 2. 1600x1200
If on second monitor: 1. Yes. (Usually) 2. 1280x1024 3. Windows XP
Desktop:
Laptop:
Win XP Pro
Most of the time 1. No 2. 1152 x 870 3. Mac OS X
Though sometimes 1. Yes, always 2. 1280 x 1024 3. Win XP
Home:
Work:
At work...
At home...
As Jeff Croft reported: "It's always good for web designers and developers to know more about the demographics of web users, to be sure."
I would just add: savvy, advanced web users, that care about accessibility and standards.
I feel like such an average user amongst the designing elite here! Never have I seen so few users of 1024 x 768!
Desktop: 1. Always. 2. 1280x1024, 1280x1024 (dual monitors) 3. Windows XP, Vista
Laptop: 1. Always. 2. 1024x768 3. Fedora Core
Home:
Work:
My two cents: Maximizing is a windows thing to do. I always maximize windows at work, I never do it on a Mac. Strange.
Home:
Work (laptop):
Desktop:
Laptop:
Desktop
Laptop
Laptop
Desktop
My computer time is split almost evenly between two machines.
On my Mac:
On the Windows machine:
at home:
at work:
Work:
Home:
Woah! 182 comments! In 19 minutes! Sweet.
At work:
At home:
*I keep the window near 1300x1000.
HOME:
WORK:
Thomas Baekdal has made a research on the topic that may be interesting for you:
http://baekdal.com/reports/actual-browser-sizes/
(sorry, couldn't make the link syntax work, so copy and paste it is...)
I do maximize at school, since the ancient PC's are stuck at 800x600.
I don't want to disrupt the survey with too much ancillary discussion, but I was inspired to maximize my browser window for the first time ever on a 1280x1024 screen.
This made me realize how much I need borders on the edge of the content I'm reading in order to keep focus. For example, when reading the comments on this website my eyes would get lost and confused in the whitespace when trying to find the next line of text.
I can understand the perspective of people who are distracted by desktop clutter, although it has never bothered me personally. I am curious if those people have the same problem I do with getting lost in large amounts of borderless empty space.
In the future I will definitely make a concerted effort to always put borders on the edges of my designs.
*If a side goes all the way to the edges then I often need to make the window smaller. I find 750px to be the perfect line length to me and I prefer a lot of whitespace outside of it.
Before I had a bigger screen (1280 x 1024) at that time I didn't surf full screen.
@Work:
@home:
It seems to me that most of the people with Macs browse without browser maximized as opposed to PC crowd browsing with maximized window (both Linux and Win).
Uhh - and at work:
@home:
@work
@ Work
@ Home
and
Me @ Home
Family @ Home
Me @ Work
Co-worker @ Work
OSX doesn't really maximize, but I usually run my browser pretty close...
Tend to run my browser usually on the smaller monitor
1: no. 2: 1280x1024 3: Win XP.
@Work:
@Home:
Caveat: Using linux allows for virtual desktops which I use pretty heavily. My browser sits alone on one, Zend Studio on another, Email on another and so on. Leaving the browser maximized doesn't interfere with other applications, and gives me more room to leave the Web Developer Toolbar always on, Firebug often on and so on, all of which chew up some screen real estate.
For my laptop
For my desktop
At home:
At work:
I set the default font-size in Firefox to 18px. To read big amount of text I increase it even more with Ctrl + (2-3 taps). I find very annoying only sites that have a 100% width text (or about >60em), then I have to reduce the window size, but this happens very rarely.
My standard window size for browsing is 800 x 840.
I've recently started to make my web (application) designs sensitive to window/font sizes with the help of some JavaScript: http://schuerig.de/michael/blog/index.php/2007/02/22/size-dependent-layout/
WORK
HOME
(When I used Windows on dual monitors sporting 1024 x 768 resolutions on each, I used to ALWAYS maximize)
Work:
Home:
Desktop:
Laptop:
From my company website: viewport dimensions
Until yesterday:
but now I've got a 22" monitor and I'm still trying to work out how I like things set.
Work:
Laptop:
Home:
For me it's a function of screen real estate. Normally maximize but maximized on 1600 x 1200 just looks plain silly.
At work:
At home:
I would expect the answer to be "No" for question 1 if my monitor were bigger. I doubt I'd want my browser window much bigger than this.
Seems I confused markdown with textile. let's try this again:
Work:
Home:
Work/Home
For this site in particular... I usually click through from the RSS feed in FeedDemon and view the site in a frame at a res of ~900x900 (though on occasion I will then open in a browser as well, this is one site I like the look of so much I prefer to read the post in context of the entire site).
Desktop:
Laptop:
My eyesight isn't so great, so for this site, I open the browser full-screen and also need to increase the font size a step or two.
PC:
iBook:
... and i get really pissed when my screen is maximized by javascript (if it is not gucci.com ;-))
Actually i'm trying get rid of being used to have maximised windows.
I actually like a bigger resolution, it's easier in photoshop, and for browsing (and looks better in general)...but I think it's vitally important to see the web like the majority of typical users do.
However, whenever I am on a lower resolution screen I end up maximizing the window.
Work:
Home:
It's strange how, when I am using Windows, I can't stand not having my browser maximized, and when I use Mac, I can't stand having it Maximized.
I recently switched from Windows, which I think is why I'm a maximizer.
Seems like you've unmasked all the lurkers on your site!
Work:
Home:
Work:
Home:
Work:
Home:
I did (nearly) exactly the same poll a couple of month ago:
http://jeenaparadies.net/weblog/2006/oct/wer-surft-in-fullscreen
Work:
Home:
At work:
At home:
Work:
Home:
For me it has to do with the actual physical size of the monitor.
Until last monday
Since then (New laptop)
Home:
Work:
or
Work:
Home:
YIKES!
I posted this and went to bed, expecting maybe 40 or 50 comments, tops. So I was "slightly" surprised to find 430 comments when I got up this morning.
Thanks everyone for answering my questions. Looks like I will have to hire someone to help me go through everything ;-D.
On my main PC (soon to be replaced by an iMac)
on my macbook
@Work:
@Work:
@Home:
I probably wouldn't be maximizing the browser Window at anything bigger than 1600x1200 though. Especially websites using a fluid layout would suffer greatly in readability, as most parapraphs would fit on a single line.
Work
Home
Note: I have the Tab Sidebar active most of the time, so my viewport is about 125px less wide. I use dual displays so I still can see at least two windows at a time.
In my experience, MAC users work and use their computer differently. And why shouldnt they, there are differences in MAC and PCs. My wife works on a MAC and never maximize any windows. I on the other hand, think that the slightest hint of the desktop makes everything feel cluttered.
@Work
@Home
PC:
Mac:
Work
Home