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Screen Settings – Can You Trust Your Eyes?

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Screen Settings – Can You Trust Your Eyes?

Screen resolution refers to the number of pixels your computer screen uses to display what you see on your monitor. A pixel is a tiny colored dot of light, and it takes a great number of them arranged together to make up what you see on your computer monitor. In the late 1990s standard screen resolution was set to 640 pixels x480 pixels. As technology and color representation improved, the standard for display became 800x600, and thus more could be fit on your screen and still look good. Monitor size then was restricted to an average 14 inches, although some lucky people had the really expensive 15 inch monitors. In an 800x600 resolution setting, everything would appear smaller on your screen (and hence more was able to fit) than if you looked at the same scene on the same monitor at 640x480.

Standards changed further as monitors and graphics cards improved in quality and ability to display color, and resolution defaults became 1024x728, and the more common monitor size became 15 inches. Today, screen sizes are more often 17 inches, and resolution setting defaults are moving toward 1280x 1024. CRTs (cathode ray tube monitors) are being replaced by LCDs (liquid crystal display monitors), and 19 inch screens are finding their way to the desktop.

Mixing and matching screen sizes and resolution settings can have some interesting affects on the file you’re working with, and you should be aware of those affects. Here’s a quick guide to changing resolution settings, and then we’ll play just a little:

Windows Right-click on some free space on your desktop. A grey menu box will pop up. Left-click on Properties near the bottom of the menu. A large Display Properties box will pop up. Select the Settings tab in the Display Properties box. Use the little slide bar near the lower left of the Display Properties box to adjust desired screen resolution and click Ok.
Macintosh For Macintosh OS X, resolution settings are found by clicking the Apple Menu, and then selecting System Preferences and then Displays. Or you can click on the Apple in the Dock at the bottom, and select Displays.

Now that you know how to change resolution settings, and can change them all the way up to 1600x1200, you can play. Minimize that file you’ve been working on for your next print job, and change the settings several times. Notice the difference in the display of that file? See how bad an 800x600 setting on a 17 inch screen makes that file look? See how good it looks in a 1280x1024 setting on a 19 inch screen, how it’s more crisp and clear? Do you notice how much easier it is to work with that file at the higher setting?

The point we want to make today is the importance of matching the right resolution setting with your screen size to make your work easier. Play around and find that right match for you.