I am a web master for www.whatsupgold.com, a site where we let users try, buy, and learn more about the popular network management software. Our main audience are Network Administrators, their bosses, and other IT Folks.

I want to poll other web designers and web developers on how they prefer to layout their web sites. We are in the process of launching a new site in early May that will be wider than the current site (optimized for 1024 x 768, versus the current 800 x 600), but will still include a fixed width layout. I decided to go with the fixed width for a few reasons, with the primary reason being – HTML pages are easier to manage.

What have others found as the main advantages/disadvantages of creating a site with fixed as opposed to liquid width?

Are most web geeks-masters-gods moving to a 1024 x 768 or higher resolution? In our research, we found that 99+% of our audience uses 1024 x 768 or HIGHER screen resolution, hence the switch to the higher resolution.

Therefore, I am using a fixed width of 960 pixels. I chose 960 since it is easily divisible by 3, 4, etc., and it easily fits in a browser width of 1024 with room to spare.

Your comments are most certainly welcome.