On Sun, 07 Jan 2007 12:46:51 GMT, Jethro wrote:
Review of my experiences and understanding:
….
Sharpness apparently is
proportional to the number size, so that the larger numbers should produce better screen images, which would be good for me what with my old eyes.
That statement _could_ be true, but is very prone to misunderstanding. If you are selecting Display Contol Panel settings lower than your display’s actual pixel dimensions, then yes, as the numbers get bigger, the image gets less blocky (but image features get smaller). Depending on the algorithm in the display’s video chips, a lower pixel resolution that is some rational fraction of the actual dimension may be much better than a higher but irrationally related resolution. Selecting a higher Display Contol Panel setting than your display is natively capable of will almost certainly _not_ improve the image.
A 1:1 pixel-for-pixel relationship is by far the best for putting information on the screen cleanly. But if the pixels are too small your eyes may not be able to use all the available info, so the _usable_ "sharpness" _could_ be better with a bigger, blockier image.
"Sharpness" is a dangerous word. Many people seem to confuse smaller pixels with a "sharper" image. If you show the same 1024×768 image on a 12" notebook screen and a 17" external display, the pixels are indeed less noticeable on the 12" screen – but there is no more visible detail available, so I at least don’t consider that sharper.
Once you factor in your own eyes, I guess the image gets "sharper" until the pixels are so small you can no longer readily see them. Making them any smaller then starts losing you information.
11) Of course the larger the resolution numbers, the smaller the icons, etc, on the screen. Many resolutions with the larger numbers even produce a screen which is off the screen and unusable. When I try the larger numbers, I have to use Control Panel’s Settings to enlarge the icons and texts so I can see them, and that works. I end up with sizes pretty much the same as what 1280X768 gives me.
There are some serious "gotcha’s" in using Windows’ "DPI" and interface element resizing capabilities. Some programs can cope with this, some can’t. Eventually you will end up in some dialog box where some of the enlarged elements don’t fit within the fixed visible window area and there is absolutely no way to access them unless you go undo your enlargement selections. I guess you might be lucky, but remember this when you are staring at a dialog with no OK or Cancel button someday…
Vista was supposed to solve this issue, for Windows itself, at least, making the display truly resolution independent, but I believe that is yet another feature that was left out. It wouldn’t have fixed all the legacy applications with fixed-size dialogs, so maybe no great loss.
Otherwise, I’d say you’ve got it right.
Loren
