Is there a way change display resolution without losing text sharpness?

Is there a way to reduce the resolution of my 15.4" WSXGA+ display without losing sharpness? I assume the answer is no because the text edges don't align perfectly with pixel edges or something like that.

Or, alternatively, with Vista is there a way to change the DPI settings so that it also work well when browsing?

I find that with Vista I can change DPI settings for most things and it works pretty well, but I can't get it to work on some web pages. Notebookreview.com is a good example, there some text on the pages that is hard for me to read because it's small, regardless of the DPI settings I use.

If I reduce the resolution of the display, sure, makes everything bigger, but the text edges are no longer clean and crisp. Thanks!

 

Nevermind. timd75 just gave the perfect answer in another thread "WSXGA+ vs WUXGA". For browsing, simply use CTRL + and CTRL - to zoom in while browsing. Works great.

So it looks like you can have your cake and eat it too. Now I love my 15.4" screen again.

 

Any change from the native resolution of an LCD reduces clarity.

I have found that increasing the DPI setting can cause formatting problems because windows and boxes are often sized for a fixed number of pixels assuming 96 dpi. Vista was meant to contain a new display driver setup which would properly take account of display size and resolution but it seems that this was too difficult and it didn't get into the final release.

For the small text in the web browsers go into the options and select a minimum font size. I've got this set to 12 point.

John

 

I must be looking right over it, but where is the option to select minimum font size when browsing? Will this only modify the text if it is below the minimum threshold you pick, otherwise leaves it alone.

 

in firefox... tools->options-> "content" tab-> click "advanced" in the fonts & colors dialog

 

In Firefox, go to Tools -> Options and select the Content section. Half way down the page, in the Fonts & Colours box, click on Advanced - Minimum font size is about halfway down this box.
Not sure in IE7..

Edit: too slow!

 

I haven't found a way yet in IE7.

Guess I should try Firefox. I did a long time ago with XP, but didn't stick with it, can't remember why. Maybe cause it's less convenient to stray from the borg.

 

don't get sucked into the borg. If you give firefox a good chance you won't likely want to go back to IE

 

Like the others have stated, upping the font size while keeping the resolution will make clearer text.

Unfortunately, making the minimum font size in a browser breaks a lot of pages--because there are too many ignorant webdesigners who don't know how to making a resolution independent website, or worse, are the ones who do not care.

Additionally, Flash GUI navigation on sites--is the work of the devil. It bears the mark of the trickster.

 

Where are you setting the DPI? The display DPI setting is a system wide setting and shouldn't be as you described: "can't get it to work on some web pages".

 

First of all, the Zoom In and Zoom Out feature (using CTRL + and CTRL -) while browsing has essentially cured the main issue for me, everything after that is icing on the cake.

But before I knew about the zoom feature, I had tried two things. One was to change the appearance / DPI settings from control panel. The other was to change the "text size" from within the IE7 options. What I found when I changed the text size from within IE7 was that it only affected certain text, but not nearly all text. And when changing the DPI setting from the control panel, if I remember correctly, it didn't change the IE7 view when browsing at all (or if it did, only certain text). Sounds like it partly depends on how the web page creator specified the font.

I'm still interested in something that limits the minimum font size when browsing without having to zoom, and may try Firefox for that, cause haven't found an equivalent feature in IE7 yet.