Any recommendations for using WindowsXP on a high res monitor (1920x1200)?

[ship]

Hi

I have just got a "high resolution" LCD monitor (a Samsung Synchmaster
244T since you ask) and its native resolution is fairly high
(1920x1200).

Although the monitor itself is something of a joy(!), a normal
settings that resolution leaves my text way too small! I am
experimenting with changing the font size.

( See: Display properties => Settings => Advanced => DPI Setting =>
Large Size [120DPI - 125% normal size] )

The problem is that many web pages look rather weird.
(e.g. http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ has the search box in the wrong
place...)

Also in Windows Outlook(2003), the names of folders on the LH of the
screen
are not showing their full names! The names are being trimmed off...

- Do you guys think that changing the DPI is a mistake?

I suppose the other option would be to set the text size back to
normal and move
the monitor a *LOT* closer.?? On my previous screen I had it at a
custom setting of "110%" I think, but that is now too small...

- Any thoughts?


Ship
Shiperton Henethe

Samsung Synchmaster 244T /SM244T, WindowsXP Pro (latest patches),
graphics card: Matrox Millennium P650 PCIe 128

 

[ToddAndMargo]

Hi

I have just got a "high resolution" LCD monitor (a Samsung Synchmaster
244T since you ask) and its native resolution is fairly high
(1920x1200).

Although the monitor itself is something of a joy(!), a normal
settings that resolution leaves my text way too small! I am
experimenting with changing the font size.

( See: Display properties => Settings => Advanced => DPI Setting =>
Large Size [120DPI - 125% normal size] )

The problem is that many web pages look rather weird.
(e.g. http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ has the search box in the wrong
place...)

Also in Windows Outlook(2003), the names of folders on the LH of the
screen
are not showing their full names! The names are being trimmed off...

- Do you guys think that changing the DPI is a mistake?

I suppose the other option would be to set the text size back to
normal and move
the monitor a *LOT* closer.?? On my previous screen I had it at a
custom setting of "110%" I think, but that is now too small...

- Any thoughts?


Ship
Shiperton Henethe

Samsung Synchmaster 244T /SM244T, WindowsXP Pro (latest patches),
graphics card: Matrox Millennium P650 PCIe 128

Try going into "Display Properties", "Appearance" tab,
and changing "font size" to "Extra large Fonts".

HTH,
-T

 

[Eric Gisin]

I have just got a "high resolution" LCD monitor (a Samsung Synchmaster
244T since you ask) and its native resolution is fairly high
(1920x1200).

Although the monitor itself is something of a joy(!), a normal
settings that resolution leaves my text way too small! I am
experimenting with changing the font size.

( See: Display properties => Settings => Advanced => DPI Setting =>
Large Size [120DPI - 125% normal size] )

The problem is that many web pages look rather weird.
(e.g. http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ has the search box in the wrong
place...)

Also in Windows Outlook(2003), the names of folders on the LH of the
screen
are not showing their full names! The names are being trimmed off...

- Do you guys think that changing the DPI is a mistake?

The Normal/Large font setting has been there since Win 3.0,
originally to support the 16" IBM XGA monitor at 1024x768.

I find it necessary on all LCD monitors.
I bought a 22" because the pixels are larger than 20".

Yes, I notice bugs in all sorts of programs that were not properly tested.
I find I can work around them or live with them. Better than going blind.

 

[Wayne Sallee]

ship wrote on 9/14/2007 5:36 PM:

Hi

I have just got a "high resolution" LCD monitor (a Samsung Synchmaster
244T since you ask) and its native resolution is fairly high
(1920x1200).

Although the monitor itself is something of a joy(!), a normal
settings that resolution leaves my text way too small! I am
experimenting with changing the font size.

( See: Display properties => Settings => Advanced => DPI Setting =>
Large Size [120DPI - 125% normal size] )

The problem is that many web pages look rather weird.
(e.g. http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ has the search box in the wrong
place...)

Also in Windows Outlook(2003), the names of folders on the LH of the
screen
are not showing their full names! The names are being trimmed off...

- Do you guys think that changing the DPI is a mistake?

I suppose the other option would be to set the text size back to
normal and move
the monitor a *LOT* closer.?? On my previous screen I had it at a
custom setting of "110%" I think, but that is now too small...

- Any thoughts?


Ship
Shiperton Henethe

Samsung Synchmaster 244T /SM244T, WindowsXP Pro (latest patches),
graphics card: Matrox Millennium P650 PCIe 128

There are a variety of settings you can try to see
what gives you the best results, but yes it's sad
that programmers, and web page designers don't write
better code.

Also you don't have to use the full monitor
resolution, you can use a lower monitor resolution.

Wayne Sallee
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Paul Randall]

You might want to try using a lower display resolution. This makes LCD
displays noticably fuzzy, but it can be much more readable depending on your
particular setup. This can allow you to use a more normal font size which
won't mess with the formatting.

-Paul Randall

 

[Jim Byrd]

Hi Ship - one thing you might want to do is to get the MS Clear Type Tuning
Power Toy, here:

http://www.microsoft.com/typography/ClearTypePowerToy.mspx

It can make a significant difference.


--
Regards, Jim Byrd,
My Blog, Defending Your Machine,
http://defendingyourmachine2.blogspot.com/



In ship <[email protected]> typed:
|| Hi
||
|| I have just got a "high resolution" LCD monitor (a Samsung
|| Synchmaster 244T since you ask) and its native resolution is fairly
|| high (1920x1200).
||
|| Although the monitor itself is something of a joy(!), a normal
|| settings that resolution leaves my text way too small! I am
|| experimenting with changing the font size.
||
|| ( See: Display properties => Settings => Advanced => DPI Setting =>
|| Large Size [120DPI - 125% normal size] )
||
|| The problem is that many web pages look rather weird.
|| (e.g. http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ has the search box in the
|| wrong place...)
||
|| Also in Windows Outlook(2003), the names of folders on the LH of the
|| screen
|| are not showing their full names! The names are being trimmed off...
||
|| - Do you guys think that changing the DPI is a mistake?
||
|| I suppose the other option would be to set the text size back to
|| normal and move
|| the monitor a *LOT* closer.?? On my previous screen I had it at a
|| custom setting of "110%" I think, but that is now too small...
||
|| - Any thoughts?
||
||
|| Ship
|| Shiperton Henethe
||
|| Samsung Synchmaster 244T /SM244T, WindowsXP Pro (latest patches),
|| graphics card: Matrox Millennium P650 PCIe 128

 

[Andy Dingley]

The problem is that many web pages look rather weird.
(e.g. http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ has the search box in the wrong
place...)

It's an IE bug. "High res" displays encourage users (rightly) to set
their Windows desktop font size higher, so as to achieve physical font
sizes they can usefully see.

This breaks IE's default calculation though, as it applies the same
correction twice. A web CSS rule of body { font-size: 100%; } with a
desktop font size enlarged to 125% will be 1.25 times bigger than the
fonts used for the desktop, when it ought to be the same.

The fix for this is to abandon IE in favour of Firefox etc.

The best work-aound I know for IE is this HTML fragment (not embeddable
in a CSS stylesheet AFAIK). It accepts that there's no real fix for IE,
it assumes that more IE is running on moderately high-res screens than
anything else, and it doesn't degrade too badly for non-scaled desktop
fonts. Ugly, but that's IE for you.

<!--[if IE]>
<style type="text/css"/>
font-size: 80%;
</style>');
<![endif]-->

 

[ship]

Thanks - nice idea Jim, but I am a *webmaster* remember - i.e. I need
to know what my users are
seeing do straying too far down this kind of thing may be a
mistake...!


Ship

 

[ship]

The problem is that many web pages look rather weird.

(e.g.http://www.computeractive.co.uk/has the search box in the wrong
place...)

It's an IE bug. "High res" displays encourage users (rightly) to set
their Windows desktop font size higher, so as to achieve physical font
sizes they can usefully see.

This breaks IE's default calculation though, as it applies the same
correction twice. A web CSS rule of body { font-size: 100%; } with a
desktop font size enlarged to 125% will be 1.25 times bigger than the
fonts used for the desktop, when it ought to be the same.

The fix for this is to abandon IE in favour of Firefox etc.

The best work-aound I know for IE is this HTML fragment (not embeddable
in a CSS stylesheet AFAIK). It accepts that there's no real fix for IE,
it assumes that more IE is running on moderately high-res screens than
anything else, and it doesn't degrade too badly for non-scaled desktop
fonts. Ugly, but that's IE for you.

<!--[if IE]>
<style type="text/css"/>
font-size: 80%;
</style>');
<![endif]-->

Crikey - that sounds a bit messy. Are you really saying that every web
page
I produce should have that fragment in it? Also it implies that it
should only
be applied if the browser is IE. Forgive my ignorance but how do I get
html
to do that?

Is there REALLY not other way of simply putting this into the .CSS ?


Ship
Shiperton Henethe

 

[Susan Rice]

I had the same problem when I recently got my new 22" LCD.
So I recently wrote this up.

FONT SIZE IN WINDOWS XP

START -> CONTROL PANEL -> DISPLAY SETTINGS(tab)
APPEARANCE(TAB) -> Font Size.
Try "Large Fonts" or "Extra Large Fonts"
Effects(button) "Use Large icons" (checkbox)

START -> CONTROL PANEL -> TASKBAR & START MENU
Start Menu(tab)
select "Start Menu", click 'Customize', select "Large icons"

INTERNET EXPLORER (7.0)(IE7 = Internet Explorer version 7)
View -> Text Size
Zoom icon at lower right
Zoom in Ctrl +, zoom out Ctrl -
The problem with using zoom on IE7 is no matter how wide you
stretch the window, IE7 still makes the web page wider than
your window, so there is always a horizontal scroll bar
at the bottom, which you must use to move back and forth
so you can see the whole web page.

OTHER IE7 OPTIONAL THINGS YOU CAN DO:
TOOLS -> INTERNET OPTIONS
-> GENERAL(tab) -> FONTS(button)
You can't select the font size, but you could select a different
font which happens to be larger.

-> GENERAL(tab) -> ACCESSIBILITY(button)
Ignore font styles specified on webpages
Ignore font sizes specified on webpages

-> ADVANCED(tab) -> Accessibility(section at top of list):
Reset text size to medium for new windows and tabs
Reset text size to medium while zooming
Reset Zoom level to 100% for new windows and tabs

NETSCAPE 7.2
View -> Text Zoom
Edit -> Preferences -> Appearance -> Fonts
Size(pixels) for Proportional Font & Monospace Font
Also "Minimum font size", which changes the font you see when you
type email.

Netscape 7.2 is nice in that when you use VIEW -> TEXT ZOOM,
it keeps the whole web page on the screen, unlike IE7.
The drawback is Netscape 7.2 is becoming obsolete.
(I didn't care for Netscape 8, and I think there may be
a version 9 out now.)

FIREFOX
Very much like Netscape (I think a lot of the code is
actually shared. Never quite understood how.) A nice
web browser. Like Netscape 7.2, you can zoom to make
the font larger. However, unlike Netscape 7.2, it
doesn't tell you how zoomed in or out you are. You can
use + or -, but there's no option I know of to say
"Go back to regulatr 100% size".

MONITOR
You can also try setting the monitor Display DPI:
START -> CONTROL PANEL -> DISPLAY
SETTINGS(tab) -> ADVANCED -> GENERAL(TAB)
Display DPI setting. Try "Large size (120 DPI)"
(I tried it and didn't care for it.)

Hi

I have just got a "high resolution" LCD monitor (a Samsung Synchmaster
244T since you ask) and its native resolution is fairly high
(1920x1200).

Although the monitor itself is something of a joy(!), a normal
settings that resolution leaves my text way too small! I am
experimenting with changing the font size.

( See: Display properties => Settings => Advanced => DPI Setting =>
Large Size [120DPI - 125% normal size] )

The problem is that many web pages look rather weird.
(e.g. http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ has the search box in the wrong
place...)

Also in Windows Outlook(2003), the names of folders on the LH of the
screen
are not showing their full names! The names are being trimmed off...

- Do you guys think that changing the DPI is a mistake?

I suppose the other option would be to set the text size back to
normal and move
the monitor a *LOT* closer.?? On my previous screen I had it at a
custom setting of "110%" I think, but that is now too small...

- Any thoughts?


Ship
Shiperton Henethe

Samsung Synchmaster 244T /SM244T, WindowsXP Pro (latest patches),
graphics card: Matrox Millennium P650 PCIe 128

 

[Andrew Barss]

With respect to the browser issue downthread, try Opera. It has a great
scaling feature that will zoom both text and graphics (unlike e.g., Firefox).
I can't read tiny text, and have found zooming Opera to be great for my eyes.


-- Andy Barss

 

[John Hosking]

With respect to the browser issue downthread, try Opera.

*Which* browser issue? What do you mean, "downthread"? Downthread from your
post? You're addressing some browser issue that will be brought up by
someone who posts *after* you?

 

[Bergamot]

try Opera. It has a great
scaling feature that will zoom both text and graphics (unlike e.g., Firefox).

It's a matter of personal preference. I don't like page zoom because it
almost always results in excess horizontal scrolling, which I detest.
Text zoom usually doesn't cause any additional horizontal scrolling,
except when widths are set in em units, then it can suck either way.