The 10% Rule

One of the hardest parts of web design is dealing with users who do not follow mainstream technology trends. They may be using an outdated browser, a 256-color video card, or viewing your site on a very small resolution. What do you do with them?

Multimedia developer Anthony Celeste has what he calls “the 10% Rule.” Basically, if less than 10% of your target market falls within a specific usage category, forget about them.

In today’s world, that would include people running on an 800×600 resolution, those using Internet Explorer 5, and in most cases, dial-up users. While one should be careful not to eliminate too much of their target market, the amount of time it takes to optimize a site for a small group of people usually isn’t worth the added traffic. After all, we all have to buy a new computer sometime.

Photo | Flickr