Best screen size to design for & backgrounds

I know that most web designers tend to use percentage based sizes for layout elements in HTML-- I typically do for most of my professional projects as well-- but I'm just wondering if absolutes wouldn't be better from some projects. And if I do use absolutes what screen size is best to design for? Normally I think in terms of 800x600 because most monitors are that size, but I've read some articles I've read say that the best size to base sites on is 640x480. 640x480 seems terribly small to me-- aminly becasue I use a 15" monitor I suppose-- but is the really the "best average" to base things around? Opinions greatly appreciated.

Another thing that is coming up more and more, is that people used to want graphical backgrounds, now most want just a plain simple background with color borders or highlights used sparingly around the site. Typically it's a white background with black text, colored menu headers, etc..., again what is everyone's thoughts and opinions on this?

 

I think the best resolution to design for is 800x600 (or to be exact 744x460 accounting for things like the browser chrome, scrollbars, and MS task bar). I don't think a lot of people use 640x480 anymore, except probably in public schools where people donate their old monitors to them.

As for the design of the site it can depend. Some clients like background others don't want it. Wallpaper background can look nice.

Look through some sites I posted in http://boards.theforce.net/message.asp?topic=9750100&replies=15. It will give you some idea of what I'm talking about.

 

Well textured backgrounds were for the most part badly utilized. Not only do they take time to download and render, but many times people chose color and patterns that made reading hard if not impossible. Sometimes they would not tile. Or you had some cheezy design. Having a plain color is better.

I do subscibe to the theory that a dark background with light text color is better because it makes things easier on the eyes, but many "people in charge" don't see it that way. I also agree with designing for 800x600 to be the best place to get started with.
As far as measurements my best friend is a professional webdesigner and she uses absolutes. The thing is she designs the complete webpage in Photoshop, then slices the images which are then assembled in Dreamweaver or elsewhere. i was quite astonished at the effectiveness.

 

It's hard to say whether absolute sizes are better or not. I believe that if you aren't using a complete graphical layout, then percentages are always better. Think about not only the smaller resolutions, but also the higher resolutions.

For example, when most sites are designed to fit in an 800x600 window, I always get empty spaces when I view it at 1600x1200 and above. Even when I switch back down to 1024x768 or 1280x1024, there's still room wasted. With a percentage design, it works in most resolutions. (The only exception is when the user is browsing at 640x480 and uses Mozilla's 300% text-zoom).

I've seen sites that revolve around a fluid content column with a fixed menu column. Such designs are good because no space is ever wasted.

I've found, however, that practical issues may dictate which design you choose. For my own site, which I'm still working on after coming up with the design a long time ago, I chose percentage widths and CSS. This took a long time to work out something that I liked. On the other hand, when designing for commercial projects, I start the design in Photoshop and then translate it into HTML absolutely. This is because clients like to see results and graphics and also it's faster to do it that way.

As for backgrounds, I personally prefer reading black text on a white background. I find that dark backgrounds and light text really segues together and I get fatigue from that easily, especially when people set the #@!!# font-size to absolute values that I can't zoom in Internet Explorer.

I'm planning to have subtle, faded background images in my content sections, just to add some color.