96dpi and 120 dpi zooming Windows 7?!!!

alilister · 27 May 2010, 02:24 PM

Hello all,

Please forgive if this has been covered elsewhere. I have searched but can't find anything.

Like a fool, I went and bought a very big monitor - well one of the Sony all-in-one thingies. Naturally, it makes type very very small. Without the Win 7 zooming thingie which increases the view, by default, to 125% (120dpi, up from 96dpi) I would not be able to see a single thing, even with my specs on. But where is this leaving what I design for the web? (Wouldn't have noticed the problem except other programs were asking me whether I wanted to resample from a screen clip).

Anything designed at either resolution is going to look bad at the other. This is a much bigger deal than 72 v 96 dpi.... Is there a workaround? A trick? A tip? A piece of script I might be able to use (remember, I'm only a designer!)?

All help or suggestions would be very gratefully received.

Thanks.

Ali

**Soquili** · 27 May 2010, 04:10 PM

Hi Ali,

Please tell us about the specific problems you are seeing.

I personally tried the 120 dpi with Vista and Windows 7 but did not like how it looked so never attempted actually working in that mode.

alilister · 27 May 2010, 04:49 PM

Hi,

I can't be worried about what other people are seeing - you can't control people's monitors or browsers - at least not with my limited coding abilities. But I find it really frustrating to be working with blurry graphics in XWD6 (because they were originally made at 96dpi). Yes, when you preview or publish it all goes 96dpi and you can see what the site is supposed to look like. But this inability to view in the resolution you're working in means that during the design process it feels uncomfortable. I am sure that over time, as my sites get redone and converted, and graphics originate in Xara, it will be ok. But until then it is all a bit of a pain.

**ss-kalm** · 27 May 2010, 05:02 PM

alilister,

The 120dpi resolution should make things look smaller not larger ....

The fact that it gets larger means that although your OS is trying to display 120 dpi, your monitor is only showing 96 dpi. and so everything takes up more space than it should.

There's something really odd about the 120 dpi setting, and as far as I know, you cannot design correctly in it.

I would recommend that you return your settings to 96 dpi. as that should correct all the problems.

If the issue is that you are having trouble viewing 96dpi at 1280 x 1024, it would be much better to lower the screen resolution to 800 x 600 instead of switching to 120 dpi.

Forgive the old 4:3 ratio's I don't remember the 16:9 ones ..... but the principle remains the same.

Most of the available software will not work correctly at the 120 dpi setting ..... And as far as I know Windows is still working natively at 96 dpi.

As usual I stand to be corrected !!

**gwpriester** · 27 May 2010, 05:50 PM

Ah, the old pixel size question.

A pixel is a fixed size that is dependent on your monitor's resolution. It cannot get bigger or smaller. It is a bleeding pixel!

Windows screen resolution is 96dpi. If you have two versions of a square, one at 100 pixels and another at 200 pixels, the 200 pixel will be exactly twice the size of the 100 pixel square.

But to address Allister's original point.

Windows uses 96dpi for screen resolution, Macs use 72dpi. If you are designing for the majority of computer users (Windows) then export your web graphics at 96dpi. If you are designing for Mac users only, export at 72-75 dpi.

Using Windows magnify option does not enter into it. Does it?

**Soquili** · 27 May 2010, 06:18 PM

The 96 and 120 dpi feature in Vista and Windows 7 are a scaling option and not a true dpi/ppi change to the display.

**Soquili** · 27 May 2010, 06:34 PM

In Windows 7 the dialog is worded differently, but still implies scaling the display.

alilister · 27 May 2010, 08:55 PM

Hello everyone,

Yes - the 125% zooming (which effectively gives you the appearance of 120dpi at my monitor's mega resolution, according to Windows 7) is the Windows default, because, presumably, if you worked at 100% scaling (96dpi) you would be blind on the second day.

I have gone back to that, but I am suffering a good deal of eye strain. It might all be 96dpi, but in the browser it looks like 4pt type!

Here is my dilemma. I am really obsessive about working at my monitor's native resolution. What is the point of having a good monitor and then making its screen blurry?! Reducing the resolution just makes the graphics look bad.

I don't think I have explained myself very well. This is the main nuisance of it. If you made your graphics at 96dpi and then want to work on them on your new computer, as do I, with its stupidly mega resolution and Windows 7 default zooming (125% - 120dpi), then you find yourself working with very blurry images and huge everything else. You have to preview your page constantly to see what you are really designing, which is a bit of a pain. The previewed page appears at 96dpi.

So this is a weird one. It isn't like the early problem of 72 v 96, because they were real pixels. This is a matter of zooming, which is not real, but certainly causes real problems.

Have I managed to terminally confuse you now.

BTW Gary. I love your XWD site. I think I am where you are/were. Try as I might, I absolutely cannot stand the industry standard (it knows who it is). My partner in life since 1996, Netobjects Fusion, is so gorgeous, and I love it - even though it got fat and is rather blousey now. But I am finding myself being unfaithful almost every day with XWD6 and really enjoying it. I have been converting some small sites to it, which proved to be ridiculously easy and not a little fun.

I had not imagined this ridiculously underpriced program would replace my other stuff, but do you know what? I think it very well might. Why is this program not £250?

Today I looked around to see whether there was a laptop I could get with a lower resolution, just for doing web design, and to avoid this problem, but most of the ones with decent screens have a ridiculously high res now. I would be no better off.

In a few hundred years we will probably grow corrective lenses on our own eyeballs. Roll on evolution.

Thanks to all who responded. Sadly I need to be ten years younger (which would correct my eyesight) or have a higher IQ (then I could code a workaround). There is nothing anyone can do for me...

Life....

PS the 125% zooming is very good. It's the Win 7 default and it makes the screen not big, but readable. It is so good that I didn't even realise it was zooming until I took my first screen shot and the program I had open asked me whether I wanted to resample. So then I began to investigate where the 96dpi had gone to...... I am boring myself now!

**Soquili** · 27 May 2010, 09:47 PM

Ali have you enabled XP style scaling in the Custom Text Size dialog?

Quote from the Windows 7 help file:

If you set the dots per inch (DPI) higher than 144 while you're running Aero (the premium visual experience of Windows), text and other items on the screen might appear blurry in some programs that aren't designed for high–DPI display in this version of Windows. You can avoid this issue by using Windows XP style DPI scaling for these programs.
Some programs display better using Windows XP style DPI scaling.

Open Display in Control Panel.
Click Set custom text size (DPI) in the left pane.
Select the Use Windows XP style DPI scaling check box, and then click OK.
To see the change, close all of your programs and then log off of Windows. This change will take effect the next time you log on.