Okay, so quite often I find myself in the midst of a discussion about screen resolutions and web site display widths. The screen resolution is the setting of each individual person who uses a computer, and based almost solely on their own preferences. (Of course, sometimes, you run into a person who doesn’t even know that they can change their screen resolution, why they’d want to, or much less, how…)

On most modern computers (yes, this is important… “modern”), the screen resolution options range from 800×600 pixels all the way up to 1280×1024 pixels. The first number relates to the width, the second to the height. The (somewhat unfortunate) thing is that by default, many systems come with the lower-resolution 800×600 - which makes viewing designs that are specific for higher resolutions pretty annoying, as you’ll have to use the scrollbar at the bottom of the window to see everything…

(Information on changing your screen resolution settings in Windows XP or Windows 98)

My personal preference? My settings are at 1024×768, and you’ll find that the majority of people who are familiar with the benefits of a higher screen resolution will have this setting - some go even higher, but again, it’s personal preference.

So here’s the thing about designing for resolutions: If you already have a website and a good stats tracker, and you know for a fact that the majority of your site visitors use 800×600 screen resolution, then by all means, design a fixed 800-pixel wide site for that crowd. (Example: Sites that are built for residents living in countries with less than “modern” levels of technology, or sites that are designed for those with visual impairments.)

However if you’re not sure, or if there’s an even balance, my vote will always lay with the fluid width design scheme. Fluid widths will automatically resize based on the end user’s display settings (screen resolution) and in almost all cases, you’ll find that the site will look fantastic on any computer with any screen resolution setting.

If you’re stubborn though, and you want to stick to a fixed width layout, please limit yourself to no wider than 800 pixels, including any and all padding, margins, and borders. Even the slightest scrollbar at the bottom of a browser window is unsightly and annoying. Oh, and don’t forget to make the background color or image flattering, if not interesting… us “1024 users” really can’t stand a site that has a black background for the content, with big white borders on either side. It’d be much nicer to see all black, or all white, or what have you!

Here’s an example of an 800×600 layout:
(click image to view on full screen - you may have to click the image again to get it to full size when it opens in a new window, regardless of your resolution settings)

Now, here’s that SAME layout, but fixed, and inside a 1024×768 resolution monitor (the yellow space is there to represent the default background color - it’s NOT a recommendation! ):
(note, if your settings are at 800×600, you will have to “magnify” the image and then you’ll see that “scroll effect” at the bottom of your screen - again, you may have to click the image again to get it to full size when it opens in a new window, regardless of your resolution settings)

Popularity: 57% [?]

I wrote up a “How To” for the writing project over at Problogger this week - Write a Directory Submission That Gets Accepted. Darren collected hundreds of entries, many of which were business related - money, startups, organizing, blogging, and so much more. I’ve collected a list here of those and wanted to share them with you. Many of these site have some great information for business owners and bloggers, and I really love what these writing projects can do for blogs! Please, take a look!

• How To Get Promoted When You Work From Home
• How To Participate in the Blogging Community
• Six Ways To Improve Navigation and Increase Pageviews
• How To Find Your (Blogging) Niche
• How To Make Meetings Fun
• How To Master The Art Of Blogging
• Choosing Secure Passwords That Are Easy To Remember
• Establish Your Business Credibility
• Essential Software List
• How To “FTP” Something
• Top 10 Tips To Survive Laptop Disaster…
• How To Increase Your Sales
• Account Security
• Bookeeping For Bloggers
• How To Explain RSS The Oprah Way
• Cheap Computer Equipment: How To Buy It

This list is by NO means exhaustive of the entire writing project, but are some of the best I read for businesses and entrepreneurs. Enjoy, and add them to your feedreader!

Popularity: 14% [?]

Very often I find myself in the middle of a debate about design processes. While I tend to prefer using a content management system (CMS) like WordPress, which uses PHP templates and CSS based design, with XHTML layouts - there are people out there who see nothing wrong with sticking with old table-based layouts and font tags. I’ve even found companies who claim to be “modern” and are less than a few years old doing such things!

Why are CSS based layouts so important?

A one word answer:
Simplicity.

The long answer:
The reasons are many!

Changing font faces, sizes, or colors takes seconds instead of hours, because you only have to change it on one place, on the stylesheet, and not on every single page in every single paragraph of the entire website (Don’t forget, many websites out there have 20, 30, or even 100 pages!).

Continuity is another factor - If for no other reason, your site’s pages will all lay out identically with CSS based layouts.

Page file sizes - Including 30 font tags and 50 span tags and a dozen table tags is no doubt going to increase your page file size. Search engines need to see what the “meat” of your site is (the content, for those of you wondering) quickly and efficiently. Site visitors want to see that very same “meat” just as fast and easily. A page that takes longer than a second or two to load is going to leave quite the bad taste (rotten meat?) in the mouths of search engines and site visitors.

So what’s this “Design for your audience” thing, then?

Well, upon many discussions I’ve been a part of, I’ve learned that what I know about browser specifications and abilities is limited only to technologically advanced countries. There are many countries where Internet Explorer 4.0 is “the latest” and their computers are 512s with 256 color (or less!) monitors and 800 x 600 screen resolution is the biggest they can get. The sites I design will break on those computers. Fortunately, I’ve yet to have to design for that type of target audience. The majority of visitors to sites I design are using IE6 or higher, or better yet, Mozilla’s FireFox, and are typically on resolutions of 1024 or better.

However if you do find yourself designing a website for senior citizens, or for people living in a less-than-technologically-advanced country like Poland or some such - keep in mind that you’ll need to toss your “regular” style of design pretty much out the window. Seniors need larger fonts, and tend to view their sites in 800 x 600 or less. Computers, browsers, and internet access in other countries may limit your abilities to even use CSS all together, and require table based layouts only.

Bottom line is to determine your target audience, and design for them. Not for yourself.

Popularity: 5% [?]

We’ve decided to add a new, exciting feature to the site called “Ask Anubis Marketing - SEO Expert Q&A”!

With this, you can email us an SEO or Internet Marketing related question, and once a week, we’ll select a question or two to be answered by our experts, and post it right here on the site!

If you need a little more than a brief answer, please feel free to contact us about our consulting services.

Popularity: 54% [?]

Okay, if you’ve done any reading up on Internet Marketing, you’ve probably read a thousand times that it’s important to get your site listed in “good directories”. Some will push dmoz, others will say it’s a waste of time. Others will push free directories and some stand by the idea that a paid submission is the only way to go. Do you go broad-range or niche-specific? How do you know what to write?

Well, here’s a list of things you should do, regardless of the directory you choose to submit to:

• First and foremost - check to make sure your URL isn’t already listed! Believe it or not, there are many human-edited directories out there where people who do the editing will seek sites out. Skaffe and JoeAnt are two of them. If your site’s already listed there, there’s no need to pay for a listing!
• Read the submission guidelines for EVERY site. Lately, directories have gotten pretty strict about what they will and will not allow, what will be considered and what will be immediately deleted. No two directories will have exactly the same rules.
• Search through the directory to find the absolute BEST place to list your site. Don’t try to list higher up in the directory thinking the PR would be better or that it will be seen by more people. You only get one listing per directory usually, so make it the most relevant category available.
• Check out the titles and descriptions that are currently listed in the directory. They’re likely NOT full of hype words like “best” or “#1″. Typically the actual link is your company name (as displayed on your site in the logo or title section), and the description tells what the site itself offers. Not “We are the best company for all your widget needs!” but rather something like, “Widget manufacturing company offers industry news, product specs and photos, tutorials, and online ordering options.” Remember, directories are not newspapers - think of them more like phone books without the ad blocks in the yellow pages.

The bottom line is this: Consider all different types of directories, free and paid, general and niche-specific, and even local directories that focus on businesses based on the geographical areas they serve. Save the ad hype for your PPC campaigns and always respect the submission guidelines for each directory!

This article was written as part of the ProBlogger “How To” Writing Project. To contact Lara for permission to reprint this, or any other article on this site, in any form, please email her at lara[at]anubismarketing[dot]com.

Popularity: 12% [?]