Need help initially setting my monitor up for best use with Xara on Vista OS

[maddog81]

Dear Xarameisters, I have a new monitor -LG Flatron 24" 100000:1 DFC
running Vista- any suggestions on how to get best color calibration on this thing -without using high tech calibration devices?

I was hopping someone could share their wisdom on initial settings that would assure best monitor- to printout-color performance so best wysiwyg
is achieved. I am running Xara extreme 4.

Thanks in advance!!!!

Maddog81

[steve.ledger]

Hi maddog81,

Congrats on the new big LCD..
Fistly, have a read through this thread:
http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthread.php?t=30377

I'm sure you will find plenty of tips to help with your question.

[maddog81]

Thank you very much. I'll check it out!

[Albacore]

Depends on what you are doing! Do you want to set your monitor up to your printer? If so print a colour wheel or something like that, even a greyscale colour bar it better than nothing and try a match your screen to the print. You will not get it spot on but it can be near to your output. All the best with your swish new screen. If your Vista comes with the Media software you can use that as well as it gives you help to set up your monitor for greyscale then colour, brightness and saturation.

[instinctive.de]

What I also find important is setting the correct DPI setting for your monitor in Windows (though I don't know where to find that in Vista), so that a zoom level of "100%" actually MEANS "100%" and if you have an A4 page in Xara, it'll actually be A4 when you are at 100% Most monitors don't have exactly 96 dpi (the default setting in Windows). Strangely also, monitor drivers don't correct this...

[steve.ledger]

Screen scaling is a Windows OS setting rather than a built-in monitor setting.

Windows OS installs at the default 96dpi scaling (whatever the X/Y resolution, screen scaling remains at 96)

In Vista you can change this to 120dpi this way:

Right-Click desktop>>Personalize>>In left pane, click on Adjust font size (DPI)
When the dpi scaling screen shows, click the 120dpi radio button then Apply.

You can also set a custom dpi via the 'Custom DPI' button.

Note: If you set the DPI higher than 96, and you are running Windows Aero, the text and other items on the screen will appear blurry.
Some programs are not designed for higher than default dpi display.

It's best to leave it at 96dpi

[instinctive.de]

Sledger: What I meant is that the monitor driver should be able to set the DPI setting in Windows automatically to the correct value, as the monitor driver should know the physical size of the screen.

It's actually fairly astounding that all OSes just assume a pixel density of 96 DPI/PPI for your monitor for whatever resolution - because it is almost always wrong. And that's precisely why apps like Word or Xtreme will NOT show an A4 page in 297 x 210 mm on your monitor at the default setting - because it is wrong

For example, my 21" monitor has 84 DPI at 1280 x 960 (measured with a ruler). I've set that in Windows' display properties, and voila - suddenly, an A4 page at 100% is REALLY A4, and a 14pt font is REALLY 14 pt

Seems like most people don't know this though or confuse it...

[steve.ledger]

Seems like most people don't know this though or confuse it....

You're not wrong, screen dpi, print dpi, scanner dpi, image ppi, physical inches and logical inches confuse almost everyone I know.
It's a discussion I avoid because of it.

Sticking to native monitor resolution and Windows 96dpi is generally recommended, but of course not mandatory. It's your gear - set it as you require.

[handrawn]

For example, my 21" monitor has 84 DPI at 1280 x 960 (measured with a ruler). I've set that in Windows' display properties, and voila - suddenly, an A4 page at 100% is REALLY A4, and a 14pt font is REALLY 14 pt

Seems like most people don't know this though or confuse it...

Early on I looked at this sort of thing

trouble is - if you use both xtreme and illustrator, you cannot have one screen setting that gives you a physically correct A4 size on screen with both programs, each at 100% view.... or maybe things have moved on, I have not tried it recently...

[Soquili]

Steve it hasn't changed. Illustrator still uses the defunct 72 dpi as all previous versions have. One would think that after more than 20 years since the demise of 72 dpi monitors someone at Adobe would have noticed.

I'm beginning the think no one at Adobe can work on the core code.