Main technical issues in web design

Find out how browsers, screen resolutions, download speeds and technologies affect website design and user experience.

Before you create a website, you should consider technical issues relating to web design that impact how users view and interact with your site across devices. Specifically, you should consider:

browser compatibility
screen resolutions
web technologies
internet speed

Browser issues and web design

Web pages should be able to display correctly across different browsers - popular options include Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Safari and Opera. Test for compatibility issues in as many browsers and operating systems as you can, on most recent browser versions, as well as the older ones - not all of your visitors may be using up-to-date software.

If you are updating an existing site, use web analytics tools to see what browsers your customers use most to access your website. This helps you prioritise testing.

Design your website for common screen sizes

In 2026, typical screen sizes include:

1366x768 pixels for desktops
375x667 pixels for mobile screens
768x1024 pixels for tablets

Higher resolutions, such as 1920x1080 pixels for desktops and 414x896 for mobiles, are gaining in popularity. It's important to consider these sizes carefully. If you design your website for higher resolutions, some low-resolution screens and older devices may not be able to display all of your content. Design responsively to avoid cutting off content on smaller screens, and read more about mobile web design best practices.

Download speeds and design

Not all internet users have high-speed access, so connection speed should also influence your webpage design. Research suggests that:

nearly half of web users expect a webpage to load in 2 seconds or less
40 per cent of people abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load

To minimise risks of slow response times, reduce image sizes, avoid heavy animations or video on key pages, and use modern formats like WebP. Average webpage size is now around 2MB - aim lower for better performance and SEO. Slow sites can hurt both user retention and search rankings.