For those that aren't sure how to adjust your resolution. If you go to your control panel.
- start
- settings
- control panel
and find display. It's the little monitor type thing there. Once that's open, the first thing to do is go to settings, and you'll find a little box there that you can put a checkmark in. This will put a little display icon down in your task bar. Why? For fast access to your screen saver, appearance, and your resolution size.
On the same tab, you should see a a rainbow type box, that above it will have a pulldown menu .. click it, and you'll see four different choices:
- 16 color
- 256 color
- High color (16 bit)
- True color (24 bit)
Most likely you're set up at 256 colors.. now if you switch it to 16 bit, you should see a very large difference in the rainbow below that. This will allow you to see and use more colors. (my pages are not set up for 256 viewing in most cases)
To the right of that box, you'll see a slide bar that will show you what your monitor is currently set up at.
- 640x480
- 800x600
- 1024x768
Now you'll see examples on the screen that is above those, what your desktop will look like when you switch those. Also be aware that if your video card does not support a higher number with the higher color pallet, such as the 1024x768 and 16 bit color, then you won't be able to use it, but you can use the next number down. You have to be the deciding factor as to what numbers are best for you, for viewing. You can also pick your font sizing on that part of the display properties.
Once you've switched those, click:
- apply
at this point, it may ask you about restarting your computer, simply answer "ok"
- ok
Now what does all this mean as far as a webpage goes? Well if you use pixels as a form of measurement, things will not be the same to all viewers. 300 pixels if just less then half of the 640 resolution.. whereas for those of us who are on a higher resolution, it's considerably smaller then that. (I'm on 1024 and it's only 1/4th of the screen.) *This is also discussed in the tables tutorial.
Why do people think it has to do with monitor size? I really can't answer that one, except maybe they haven't learned how to adjust their display properties. Pages can be seen on all monitors the same, as long as you remember about resolution. I tend to check things in all resolutions........ and as a test for this page, I checked through my entire site, using my husband's laptop, which only has a 12" screen *or so* and there's no difference.
See for yourself, play with your display properties, find a setting that works for you.. but you really should take it off the 256 colors and see a whole new world of color.
If you want to join the campaign... to help make the web a resolution friendly place, copy/paste the following code onto your page to let other people know that it is possible.