For 1024X768 pixels screen resolution what is the maximum page width that can be considered safe so that in none of the browsers horizontal scroll bars come up?
Bear in mind guys that even if you have 1920px wide screen resolution, you are not going to be reading a website using that width. The whole reason for having that much real estate on a screen is to be able to open several pages at the same time and work side by side.
@virtual. I definitely see what you mean. But I do have a 1920x1080 screen resolution and view webpages at full screen all the time. It helps me focus more on what I am looking at rather than having 2, 3, or 4 screens open at a time. Now tabs.....that's a different story.
960 primarily for most production web work right now. If you're feeling frisky you can design for 960, up to 1080 (which will become more accepted in the future), and all the way down to mobile screen sizes. CSS media queries are super handy for this kind of work.
http://960.gs/