800 x 600 or should I for 1024 x 768 it's a special case?

[drupaluser]

I know about lots and lost of 800 vs. 1024 discussions, some extremely long - I don't want that! But I think I have a dilemma, it is that I want to design my website for 800 x 600, only because it's hard to really to use all of the space that 1024 gives you! What do you think?

Or maybe that it's easier to read top to down, than left to right for a long way! anyways, it's driving me nuts. I can't decide. Some help is needed!

Bagsbuy.com or Shoebuy.com are made for 800 x 600, do you think they could really fill the space if they switched to 1024? Without really coming over as, that they really tried their best to fill empty spaces, that it looks very obvious!

Thanks, drupaluser

[aaanativearts]

I think 800x600 is fine, if you center the page so there is equal blank space on both sides. To me it looks weird on my 17" monitor (which is 1280x1024) when a 800x600 site aligns left then has a huge blank space on right (altho tons of sites do that). I personally frequently design sites that are 830 or 900 wide, splitting the difference. I don't think there is a hard and fast rule, and there are lots of people who prefer one width over another and can't agree, so I use whatever width suits my design layout best.