Thanks for the detailed reply.

I, too, use both elastic and fixed widths depending on the project. I tend to start with around 700px and widen out to around 750px-780px. I haven’t really gone much wider due to the fact there was still quite a few folk using 800×600 screen resolution (and I’m not fond of horizontal scrollbars).

But 800×600 is rather uncommon now, so I was thinking about increasing my CSS frameworks to 900px-1000px.

I do like fluid widths as a solution to this problem but, of course, fluid comes with a whole new set of issues

I have recently tried starting the design process with a 960 design grid, limiting myself to a 770 width at first and if necessary using the remaining space – however, twice now I have found there was no need to widen out.

That said, I am not against the 960 width approach, and may well use it on my next project.

It does depend somewhat on the nature of the site and the nature of the audience.

I really wish Google Analytics gave stats on viewport size so that for redesigns I could examine the stats on the existing traffic for a site.

I see your own site is elastic and there a couple of sites I have gone that route for myself.

For fixed width design do you have your own preferences?

Ten months on do you still tick to 770px rule or have things changed?

Daniel