I've pulled together 3 more sets of statistics showing the difference between screen resolutions of the general public, of people who visit jewelry websites, and then the screen resolutions that retail jewelers are still using during their work day.These measurements are from December 2012.
I'll start with the general screen resolution statistics measured by StatCounter.com Global Stats. These are the most popular screen resolutions in the United States.
(1st) 1366x768, 17.05% -- 15" to 17" laptops designed for HDTV
(2nd) 1024x768, 14.77% -- 17" desktop screen
(3rd) 1280x800, 13.08% -- 15.4" widescreen laptops
(4th) 1920x1080, 7.24% -- 23" to 27" desktop screen
(5th) 1440x900, 7.19% -- 19" to 21" desktop widescreen
(6th) 1280x1024, 5.91% -- 19" desktop screen
(7th) 1600x900, 5.91% -- 17.3" laptop screen
(8th) 320x480, 5.54% -- iPhones
(9th) 768x1024, 5.45% -- iPad
(10th) 1680x1050, 3.94% -- 20" to 22" desktop widescreen
Normally a web programmer would look at these 10 popular screen resolutions and design a website for them. But before you start designing for jewelry specific websites you should have a look at these statistics that I measured in December 2012.
This shows what actual visitors to jewelry websites were using across my entire network of tracked websites.
(1st) 1366x768, 11.53% -- 15" to 17" laptops designed for HDTV
(2nd) 1024x768, 10.67% -- 17" desktop screen
(3rd) 320x480, 9.55% -- iPhones
(4th) 1280x800, 9.27% -- 15.4" widescreen laptops
(5th) 768x1024, 8.53% -- iPad
(6th) 1280x1024, 6.17% -- 19" desktop screen
(7th) 1440x900, 5.8% -- 19" to 21" desktop widescreen
(8th) 1600x900, 4.62% -- 17.3" laptop screen
(9th) 1920x1080, 4.60% -- 23" to 27" desktop screen
(10th) 1680x1050, 3.15% -- 20" to 22" desktop widescreen
It seems the 1st and 2nd most popular screen resolutions are the same for jewelry websites compared to the internet in general. But look a little closer... The 1366x768 screen only accounts for 11.53% of jewelry visitors compared to the 17.05% general statistic.
The 1024x768 screen only accounts for 10.67% of the jewelry visitors, and that's only 1.12% higher than iPhone visitors. The iPhone is 8th place in the general statistics. This iPad is also more widely used by jewelry website visitors.
For the top 10 screen resolutions you have 45.14% that are wider than 1024 and 28.75% that are smaller.
When you redesign your website in 2013 you certainly have the freedom to make your website wide, but then that website might not look nice on the iPhone and iPad. My best recommendation is to create a mobile-friendly version of your website, but if you don't then you need to test your site on the iPhone and iPad.
Don't make your Apple users angry! They own expensive phones and they are willing to buy other expensive things!
For comparison, these are the screen resolution statistics for December 2012 that show what a retail jewelry store owner was using.
(1st) 1024x768, 18.34% -- 17" desktop screen
(2nd) 1280x1024, 11.99% -- 19" desktop screen
(3rd) 1366x768, 8.07% -- 15" to 17" laptops designed for HDTV
(4th) 1280x800, 6.89% -- 15.4" widescreen laptops
(5th) 1600x900, 6.59% -- 17.3" laptop screen
(6th) 1440x900, 6.53% -- 19" to 21" desktop widescreen
(7th) 1680x1050, 6.31% -- 20" to 22" desktop widescreen
(8th) 1920x1080, 5.32% -- 23" to 27" desktop screen
(9th) 768x1024, 4.45% -- iPad
(10th) 1152x864, 3.28% -- 17" desktop screen
As you can see the screen resolutions hint at older technology that is still in wide use within the jewelry industry. The 10th place resolution 1152x864 with 3.28% ranks in 16th place with only 0.93% of jewelry website visitors.
The bottom line of all this is that your web developer needs to test your website on the popular screen resolutions but you probably shouldn't use your own screen as a gauge by which your customer are viewing you.
