Windows 7 monitor resolution

[pkocsis]

In Windows 7, in the display settings one can "Make it easier to read what's on your screen". The selections are 100%, 125%, and 150%. Setting to 150% seems to simply change the display resolution which seems extremely unintuitive. Example: A laptop has a native resolution of 1600 X 900. Going to "Screen Resolution" and clicking on "Make text and other items larger or smaller", one can choose 100%, 125%, or 150%. If 150% is selected, then it seems that the resolution simply gets set to 1067 X 600, YET the "Resolution" setting in "Screen Resolution" shows the resolution as 1600 X 900.

I can see how this can be confusing to a user.....am I missing something here? Why would Windows 7 report the resolution at 1600 X 900 when in actuality (because of the 150% setting) it is indeed 1067 X 600? Is there another place to make text/icons larger without Windows 7 changing the actual working screen resolution?

[calieigh]

Hi
I am not sure which icons you mean on the task-bar, but this may help you.
//http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/19...bar-icons.html//

[pkocsis]

Hello, thank you for replying. Not icons on the task bar. The display resolution in windows 7 allows one to "Make text and other items larger or smaller" (which is referring to desktop icons and text among other things). Choosing 150% indeed does make them larger, but also seems to do it by simply lowering the screen resolution. When 150% is chosen, the screen resolution is still reported as 1600 X 900 in the "adjust resolution" screen, when in reality, it is quite lowered. This seems unintuitive and rightfully confusing. Certainly I'm missing something here..........?

[FourthWorld]

Could it be that it's merely zooming, and that the full resolution it reports is still available via scrolling?

[pkocsis]

Hello Richard, thanks for responding!

I don't think so...unless there is some other unintuitive way to scroll the screen other than hitting your cursor up against the edge of the screen....and even if this is the case (which I really don't think it is), then there is a bug in runrev as the screenRect returns 1067 X 600.

I think it's just an ill-thought-out Windows 7 interface. It's very confusing to go into "adjust resolution" and see that the slider is at 1600 X 900.

[pkocsis]

Thank you, but I have yet to see a Win 7 machine where changing to 150 or 200% doesn't simply change the screen resolution . Try it...

1. Note your resolution setting (make sure it is set to the monitors native resolution)
2. change to 150 or 200%
3. Go back and look at 'Screen Resolution', note that it is still reported as what you saw in step 1
4. write a quick-n-dirty program to return the actual resolution

The reported resolution (horizontal and vertical # of pixels) is different than what you noted in steps 1 and 3.

[startrek99]

pkocsis , thanks for your post . everything you said is correct . At the moment i have no solution for your problem but It may be usefull for other people to know that increasing your text size in windows 7 can prevent you from entering certain resolution modes on at least on game/sim I know . In Condor flight sim it prevented 1600 by 900 , yet desktop res was reported as 1600 by 900. Thanks pkocsis my prob is solved.

[Adrien Bron]

I have the same problem, somebody has any idea?.

[pkocsis]

Hi Adrien,

Firstly, I can identify....

By "problem" do you mean the user *thinking* that their screen resolution is what the Win7 slider shows (which is erroneous when the "Make text and other items larger or smaller" is anything other than 100%)?

The problem I had was:

My application needed a minimum amount of screen real estate (had to have at least 700 lines vertically). If my application detected less than 700, it would inform the user that at least 700 lines of resolution was needed and would close. The confusion came in when the user would then check their resolution setting and Win7 would show the slider at (for example) 1600X900! Very confusing to the user....

My only work-around was to be more informative to the user. Tell them how many vertical lines were detected and direct them to check BOTH the resolution slider AS WELL AS the "Make text and other items larger or smaller" setting...further explaining that the "Make text and other items larger or smaller" does indeed change the available onscreen lines of resolution.

Not ideal, but at least most users were less confused as they were "tipped off" as to look at the "Make text and other items larger or smaller" setting too.....

HTH,

Paul

[Simon]

Hiya Paul,

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics

Applied DPI is in there.

The rest is up to you

Simon