Re: Ok First question about XP Pro

"$irVivor & §ireßird" <me@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:gm26a28t11io.44rkcmzcebba.dlg@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Mon, 10 Jul 2006 22:29:10 GMT, pmj wrote:

It's not a good idea to run an LCD Monitor at anything other
than it's "Native Resolution", which (for a 17 or 19 Inch one)
is 1280 x 1024

So I understand, This is a Digimate 17" with an Analogue connector,
According to the manual it supports 8 resolutions up to the 1280
X 1024 (including 1024 X 768) so should be ok

Well, *all* LCD Displays *will* work at various different Resolutions.

But *all* LCD Displays (regardless of Make & Model) have a "Native"
Reolution, which is the number of Pixels across (Horizontally) & Down
(Vertically) - that's a basic fact, due to the way they are made.

& if you Run the Display at any other Resolution, other than its
"Native" Resolution, which, for a 17 or 19 Inch LCD is 1280 x 1024,
that means that each "Pixel" that is on the Screen has to show a
(fractional) number of Pixels of the image that is being Displayed.

So...
For example, if you Run a 1280 x 1024 (5:4 Aspect Ratio) LCD Display
at 1024 x 768 (4:3 Aspect Ratio) that means that each Pixel on the
Screen (Horizontally) is showing .8 (8/10ths) of a Pixel of the
Image (1024/1280)

& that each Pixel on the Screen (Vertically) is showing .75 (3/4)
of a Pixel of the Image (768/1024)

Or to put it another way, each Pixel of the Image is shared across
1.25 Pixels - 1280/1024 - (Horizontally) & 1.333 Pixels - 1024/768 -
(Vertically)

So the Picture can *never* be as clear (& may also be a different
*shape*, if you run an LCD Display at anything other than its "Native"
Resolution.

You can see that, if you use the (built-in) windoze Magnifier Utility

Start>All Programs>Accessories>Accessibility>Magnifier

or...

Start>Run magnify [OK]

That's a very basic Utility (there are other better ones around
& many Graphics Cards come with their own Magnifier Utility), but
it will usefully show what's happening on the Screen, when you use
anything other than the "Native" Resolution.

The Magnifier Utility Opens up Set to a Magnification Level of 2,
but you can adjust it to other Values.

Look at the individual Pixels that make up each Letter on the Screen
& the Magnifier Utility will also (very clearly & dramatically!) show
what the ClearType (Anti-Aliasing) Settings do, to try to Help make
Text look clearer & less "Jagged".

When you look at what ClearType does to the Edges of Text Characters,
(when Zoomed in & Magnified) it looks horrible! - But when it
(ClearType) is properly tuned it can very often help make the Text
look better, on an LCD Disply.

But it does take a little bit of getting used to at first.

Unlike a CRT Monitor (which can basically be run at whatever
Resolution you want & it will support), a CRT Monitor has a "Native
Resolution" & if the Display Resolution is Set to anything else,
then it means that the Picture won't be so clear, cos the Pixels
(in the Image/Picture) have to be sort of "shared" between the
actual Cells on the LCD Screen.

Changing the Resolution may *appear* to Help - it will certainly
change the Size of what's shown - but it will lead to other probs.

See above^

Yep.
But I think you haven't fully appreciated what's actually going on
between the Operating System Display Settings (& the Graphics Card
Drivers) & the LCD Display & the way that an LCD Display is *Physically*
totally different from a CRT Monitor & the way the Picture is made up
& Displayed on it works completely differently.

<snip a bit>
Try that & try it with various different Scaling Settings - that
may Help.

Tried all of those things and can get text sizes in things like
Dialog and OE readable through the fonts menus on them etc. in IE
I have to check the box 'ignore font styles specified on web pages'
in the accessibility options in the Internet options menu.

Yep, but that's a very drastic way of trying to get around the
problem!!!
& doing that will (as you may already have found?0 completely screw
up many Web Pages.
:-(

The problem is no matter what I have tried the context menu boxes
and text are very small, along with the menu bars at the top of most
programs I tried.

Ah...
In that case, you need to Adjust another (different!) Setting...

Go here...

Display Properties>Appearance>[Advanced...]

Look for the "Item: " Dropdown List...
Select "Menu" in that List.
When you do that, the "Size: " Selector Box becomes Ungreyed.
Select the Size that you want the Menus to be.
(You can also choose the *Font* Size, which is different from the
*Menu* Size & I think you'll find that it's the *Font* Size of the
Menus that you will want to change)
You can also change the Font itself (the Default is Tahoma) & whether
it's Italic &/or Bold & the Color of it.

That Setting affects the RightClick (Context) Menus & also the MenuBar
in (most) windoze Application Windows. (But, oddly enough, *not* the
Text in many of the windoze Dialog Boxes - that's Set using another,
different Option!)

HTH
Yes thank you, it certainly increased my knowledge some.
:)

& try out the other Settings (such as those Menu Settings & some of
the others) in the Display Properties as well.

You'd be surprised at how much there is to make the Screen Display
look how *you* want it, rather than how some Programmer in another
Country (& using a different sort of Screen, designed over 5 Years
ago!) thinks it should.

Remember, that you are using a modern LCD Monitor Screen (with a Native
Resolution of 1280 x 1024) but when windoze (even WinXP) was designed,
most people used (relatively small) CRT Monitors & they (often) only
had a Resolution of 800 x 600 or 1024 x 768...

So the *Default* Settings will *never* be what's best for you, or for
most people, these days.

--
pmj


.

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