> I don't know how 'right' or 'wrong' I may be here, but I believe that
>most monitors, today, are SVGA or better. That allows most users
>to set their screen resolution to at least 800x600.
As others have pointed out, yes, monitors can be set to higher displays, but
in reality, very few do. I doubt if more than 10% of users know how to
change monitor settings, mouse speed, browser fonts, etc.
Last year I visited a friend. He had ten years experience as a technical
writer in Silicon Valley. He had been using his new 19" monitor for six
months. It was still set at the default 640 dpi. I changed it and he was
flabbergasted. He'd never heard that this was possible.
At my last contract, I changed the monitor resolutions for most of my cube
neighbors. They didn't know how to do this. I have a favorite photo of one
of my cats at my
web site that I use to adjust monitor colors www.andreas.com/pixs/dash.jpg
(yes, the url is correct this time! :-) (Before they were assimilated, WebTV
used that pic to show people how it could deliver great colors). I know what
the pic should look
like, so it's easy to adjust a monitor. Nearly everywhere I go, the colors
and contrast/brightness are skewed into weird setups. People also never
touch the controls that let them rotate the screen image or expand it to
fill the screen (and get rid of the black border).
It would be very helpful if monitors included a glossy color photograph that
users could use to adjust their monitors.
Since some here may be wondering how to change their monitor resolution...
1) On Windows, point the mouse at an empty area of the screen (not a window
or icon) and click the right-mouse button.
2) This opens a pop-up menu. Select the bottom item Properties.
3) This opens the Display Properties dialog box. Select the Settings tab.
4) At the right side, you can move a slider marker to change Screen Area. If
you've not done this, it's probably set at 640x480. Go ahead and spank that
puppy up to 1024x768. In the little screen representation, you can see the
effect of your changes.
5) Depending on your graphics card, you might be able to increase your color
capability. It's probably set for 16 colors or 256 colors. Get groovy at
True Color 24-bit. This results in a near-photograph quality screen.
6) These two items often see-saw with each other. If your computer has a
barracuda-class graphics card, you can have both a large screen and lots of
color. The less card, the more compromise.
7) When you finish playing around with the settings, click Apply. This tests
your monitor. If Windows has the driver for your monitor, then it should
work. If you get a weird display, or no display at all, just wait 15 seconds
and Windows will reset the original settings. Don't touch your monitor. Just
let it reset by itself.
Why do this? It gives you a bigger workspace. Try it. If you don't like it,
you can always repeat the process and set it back to 640x480.
If you have a 17" or larger monitor, you probably want a bigger graphics
card. More RAM on the graphics card also means that it's faster to redraw
your screen everytime you move something around. Graphics cards are pretty
inexpensive: top of the line cards are just a bit over $100.
Maybe someone could write similar instructions for the Mac.
__________________________________________________
Andreas Ramos [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.andreas.com
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