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

[alilister]

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]

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]

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 But I find it really frustrating to be working with blurry graphics in XWD6 (because they were originally made at 96dpi).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]

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]

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]

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.