Hey John,
I can't remember were I read it but I remember reading on a couple of 'web design guides' on the net that the standard page whould be written to fit an 800x600 resolution screen. At home I personally have my screen resolution set up 1024x768 and at work have my screen set to 1280x1024 (the greatest resolution it can do). I still like reading the pages that only take up half the screen.
Personal preference. You might also need to think about what you set your resolution to... in stead of having to change your resolution to make sure everything fits, why don't you make it the size you have your screen set to.
Just giving suggestions,
Porter