Configuring Your Display

Changing the screen resolution changes the number of pixels that Windows displays on your screen. Increasing the resolution—say, from 1024 by 768 to 1600 by 1200—lets you see more action on your display: more windows, more text, larger graphics, and so on— with various tradeoffs. Text at a given point size will appear smaller at higher resolutions. A mouse at a given pointer speed will require more arm and wrist motion to traverse a high-resolution screen than a low-resolution one. And higher resolutions use more video memory. In short, the right resolution for you depends on your hardware, your preferences, and visual acuity.

To change the screen resolution, right-click the desktop and choose Screen Resolution. To make a change, click Resolution and drag the slider up or down. (See Figure 1.)

Note:

A change in screen resolution affects all accounts at a particular computer, not just the account that makes the change.

2. Configuring a Multimonitor Display

Extending your desktop across two or more monitors can be a great way to increase your productivity. You can do your main work on one screen and keep auxiliary information, e-mail, or even Windows Media Player open and visible on the second. Or if you work with large spreadsheets or database tables, you can spread them across multiple screens so that you can see more data without having to set your resolution to stratospheric levels.

If your display adapter supports two monitors (these days, most do), the Screen Resolution dialog box show two boxes, labeled 1 and 2, when you have a second monitor connected. (Of course, if you have more than two monitors attached, Windows displays a numbered box for each one.) You can click these boxes to configure the monitors independently. If adjusting the settings for monitor 1 appears to be affecting what you consider to be monitor 2, click Identify. Windows displays large white numerals on your screen temporarily to let you know which screen is which. If it happens that screen 2 is on the left of screen 1, drag the boxes in Screen Resolution so that they match the physical layout of your monitors.

Assuming you want to add screen space to your visual layout, be sure to select Extend These Displays in Multiple Displays. If you prefer to have your second monitor function as a duplicate display (for example, to make a presentation easier for a group of clients to see), select Duplicate These Displays.

Some third-party programs exist to enhance your multimonitor experience. For example, with DisplayFusion from Binary Fortress Software (w7io.com/0408), you can put a different desktop background on each monitor or have a single image span multiple monitors.

3. Making Text Easier to Read

In earlier versions of Windows, users who wanted larger text sometimes bumped up the point size for one or more screen elements. Scaling up this way was problematic, though, because not all elements of the Windows user interface could be scaled successfully. Dialog box text in particular was a problem, so users sometimes found themselves looking at large title bars and scroll bars and large menu text, but small dialog-box text. Windows 7 offers a better way.

If you like to work at high screen resolutions but you find yourself straining to read the text, you can try the following:

• Look for scaling ("zoom") commands in the text-centric programs you use. Many programs, including most modern word processors, include these scaling features. Scaling text up to a readable size this way is a good solution for particular programs but doesn't change the size of icon text, system menus (such as the Start menu), or system dialog boxes.

• To enlarge part of the screen, use the Magnifier tool.

• Use the scaling options in the Display control panel—the "better way" offered by Windows 7. Adjusting the scaling to a higher level enables you to have readable text at higher screen resolutions.

To adjust display scaling, right-click the desktop and choose Personalize. In Personalization, click Display, a link in the left pane. (Alternatively, type display in the Start menu search box and click Display.) Select one of the options shown below.

For a greater range of settings, as well as greater precision, click Set Custom Text Size (DPI). (DPI stands for dots per inch.) Figure 2 shows the Custom DPI Setting dialog box.

To change the scaling factor, drag any part of the ruler. Alternatively, you can either select a value in the Scale To This Percentage Of Normal Size list or type directly into this box. What scaling factor is right? It depends on many things—the size and resolution of your screen, the programs you use, your eyes, and your preferences. You will likely need to try more than one combination of screen resolution and scaling factor to get your system exactly the way that works best for you.

The Use Windows XP Style DPI Scaling check box offers a measure of compatibility for (mostly older) applications that are not written to use high DPI settings. Some compromise is required: when selected, some elements (dialog box text or icons, for example) might not align or resize properly, whereas clearing this option causes blurry text in some applications. By default, for DPI settings of 120 (125y or below, the option is selected; for larger sizes it is cleared.

When you change DPI scaling, you must log off before the change takes effect. After you log on again, test some text-centric applications to see if you like the result. If you don't, return to the Display dialog box and try another setting.

4. Using Font Smoothing to Make Text Easier on the Eyes

ClearType is a font-smoothing technology that reduces jagged edges of characters, thus easing eye strain. Although it is optimized for LCD (flat panel) displays, ClearType is turned on by default on all systems, regardless of display type. Microsoft believes that ClearType improves readability on both cathode-ray tube (CRT) and LCD displays, but if you're a CRT user you should probably try turning ClearType off to see which works better for you. (You can also turn font-smoothing off altogether by clearing the Smooth Edges Of Screen Fonts check box on the Visual Effects tab of Performance Options, but it's hard to imagine any benefit from doing so.)

To check or change your font-smoothing settings, type cleartype in the Start menu search box and click Adjust ClearType Text. Doing so opens ClearType Text Tuner, which, in its first screen, has a check box that turns ClearType on when selected. The ensuing screens that appear each time you click Next offer optometrist-style choices ("Which is better, number 1 or number 2?") to help you reach ClearType perfection.

Windows includes seven new fonts that are optimized for ClearType. The names of six of these—Constantia, Cambria, Corbel, Calibri, Candara, and Consolas—begin with the let ter c—just to help c ement the connection with ClearType. If you're particularly prone to eye fatigue, you might want to consider favoring these fonts in documents you create. (Constantia and Cambria are serif fonts, considered particularly suitable for longer documents and reports. The other four are sans serif fonts, good for headlines and advertising.) The seventh ClearType-optimized font, Segoe UI, is the typeface used for text elements throughout the Windows user interface. (Windows also includes a ClearType-optimized font called Meiryo that's designed to improve the readability of horizontally arrayed Asian languages.)

Note:

For information about how ClearType works, visit Microsoft's ClearType site, at w7io.com/0404.

5. Calibrating Your Display's Colors

To get the most accurate rendition of images and colors on your screen, you should calibrate it. You've probably noticed, but perhaps not fiddled with, the buttons on your monitor that control various display settings. A new tool included with Windows 7, Display Color Calibration, helps you to calibrate your screen using your monitor's display controls as well as various Windows settings. With Display Color Calibration, you set gamma, brightness, contrast, color balance, and other settings, all of which are explained in the on-screen descriptions.

To run Display Color Calibration, in the Start menu search box, type display and then click Calibrate Display Color. (Even easier, type dccw, the name of the executable file for Display Color Calibration, and press Enter.) Calibrate Color is also an option in the Display control panel. No matter how you start it, Display Color Calibration opens a full-screen application that leads you through the steps of adjusting your display by making settings and adjusting monitor controls until the images displayed at each step look their best.