Did you know that Web site appearance changes depending on your visitor's size on monitor? Just because you design your layout to fit perfectly on your screen doesn't mean that everybody will see it exactly the same way.
Width: The biggest consideration with the size of your page layout is the width. There are various sizes and pixel widths of monitors, and it's hard to predict what your users will have. Most computer monitors have a width of 1024 pixels, and sometimes wider. Users can adjust it, but those are typical factory settings. Older monitors and monitors smaller than 19 inches generally have a pixel width of 800.
To accommodate most screens, you can build your site to fit pixel width of 800. However, because browsers often take up space on the outer limits of the screen for scroll bars and other features, you should set your width smaller - 760 pixels is usually effective, but you can go smaller. This will allow your page to fill the screen while taking into account browser features.
Those who are viewing on a larger monitor or with a larger pixel width will see more white space. If your site is left-justified, meaning it borders the left side of the screen, you site will have a significant amount of white space on the right. To reduce this effect, you can center your site so that the white space on both the left and the right is balanced.
Length: Web pages can be infinitely long, but be aware that most users won't scroll much past 2 or 3 screens, if they scroll at all. You'll want to put the most important information in the area that will be immediately seen by visitors without having to scroll. If you have so much information that users need to scroll down to read it, you might be able to break it up into separate pages. Or, consider putting your information into a pdf so readers can download the document and even print it.
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