Yet browsers are not the only technological variance in web surfing; monitor size and resolution as well as connection speeds have also had quite an impact on a user's experience with a Web site.
Connection speeds were mostly a concern back in the stone age, when most users connected to the internet with that fun baaaaadaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa sound. Now, bandwidth concerns are almost nonexistent, unless a user lives in a country where the government has been restricting bandwidth (think Iran).
Monitors have also improved and have increased in size with a "bigger is always better" mentality. This is evident in the growth of the size of the standard Web site. The first standard set for the size of a Web site was 800px wide by 600px high. Almost all Web sites were designed this way.
But ahh monitors; how they have grown! Nowadays, a typical Web site is about 1024 px wide and no one really cares about the height because you can always scroll down and dial up connections are almost non-existent so you can have as much flashy stuff on the website as is tasteful (or not, think Ling's Cars *shudders*).
Will this last? This week I would like you all to seriously think about the size of Web sites. Will they grow, shrink or remain the same as new technologies that can access the Internet are introduced into the market place? Does it matter? How should you, as a designer/developer/manager of a Web site, modify your thought process and resulting designs as technology advances?
