1920x1080 how some programs (non-menu area) fonts are displayed

Discussion in 'Windows XP / Older OS' started by endeavor, Apr 17, 2010.

  1. endeavor

    endeavor MDL Member

    Aug 9, 2009
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    Moving from the 1280x1024 standard LCD 19" screens resolution, to the 1920x1080 which comes with 23" etc WideScreen monitors these days we know the same font settings displayed on 1280x1024 will now show a bit smaller in 1920x1080 - and that's fine.

    We understand about font size, clear type, and dpi adjustments, and we know for higher resolutions always being sure to turn on and adjust ClearType which solves readability problems just fine across the board in every nook and cranny, Except! inside many non-microsoft programs where the OS's control over the font size, clear type, or dpi adjustments in the non-menu areas has no effect and does not reach there - and that is specifically what I'm talking about today.
    ~The problem is the font displayed in some of these (non-menu) areas is harder to read because it's a little too skinny and smaller - again everywhere else is just fine.

    We know that going forward software developers automatically write their softwares fonts to be easily readable in higher resolutions, but many of our slightly older programs we still want to use did not, and that's where the problem is seen whether I'm using WXP, Vista, or Windows7 the issue is exactly the same.

    ***
    The question is, how can you get the ClearType setting to also have its effect on fonts which exist inside of these programs non-menu areas that are currently not in the OS's control?

    Is there another way then?


    ps
    (It's Not a VGA, DVI, or HDMI connection issue, or Video Card, or Brightness/Contrast etc adjustment problem)
     
  2. endeavor

    endeavor MDL Member

    Aug 9, 2009
    153
    16
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    resolved

    Well I found the resolve and it was to simply return the 23" LCD Widescreen for a 25" which solved the problem quite nicely.

    A 23" widescreen LCD with its 20.06" x 11.29" display area with its set Pixel Pitch of 0.2655 displayed at the LCDs default 1920x1080 resolution, shows OS's default text settings which is 96 dpi just too small in the Non-DPI Aware portions of programs to render their fonts adequately, it's just too skinny, cramped, and lousy to look at. Yes in most cases ClearType greatly helps fonts within its reach, but again it can Not reach into Non-DPI Aware areas of programs - which was the main talking point of my original post.

    Anyway a 25" LCD widescreen with its 21.40" x 12.04" display area with its set Pixel Pitch of 0.283 shown at the default 1920x1080 resolution, this renders everything globally slightly larger than the 23", well that's just enough to solve the problem globally all at once. Actually a 27" widescreen LCD is even more ideal with it's 23.5" x 13.2" display area with its set Pixel Pitch of 0.3114 shown at the default 1920 x 1080 resolution renders everything even slightly larger yet, and this makes for ideal viewing of fonts left at the OS's default 96 dpi font rendering, which is appropriate anyway! Trying to change the OS's default 96 dpi setting to solve the problem was not a global fix and causes it's own set of problems trying to do it that way. We also know it's best to stay with a LCD Monitors recommended resolution for best results. Trying to create slightly different custom resolutions to sidestep the issue causes its own set of problems and was not the answer; however adjusting the standard 'Display Properties' 'Screen Resolution' slider to choose the next lower resolution can give good results too but for instance not 1680x1050 on 22"/23" screens will not work right (only 25" ish) - but if it did that would be acceptable, however some even lower shown resolutions for 22"/23" may work but does so by usually making everything way too large and for instance instead of getting 13 icons per vertical row on your Desktop, you will get far fewer, etc, ...but my post is to stay on point of everything within and to do with 1920 x 1080 resolutions while leaving the OS's (WXP/Vista/Win7) default 96 dpi font settings alone as intended.

    So in my humble opinion a 22"/23" LCD widescreen for computer use is not ideal set at 1920 x 1080 resolution if you use a lot of programs that are Non-DPI Aware - ideally at that resolution a 25", better yet a 25.5", 26", or 27" is better. Since the Pixel Pitch of each larger 'display area' is a little larger, thereby what is 'seen' on the screen with the same fonts shown on a 22" is 'seen' as aprox 10% larger V/H when shown on a 25" - and that net result simply solves the problem spoken of in my OP.

    Interesting to note that if you once had a 19" 4:3 non-widescreen LCD, well it's display area height was aprox 12', and so what's interesting is in order for you to get back that same 12" of actual display area height in a 16:9 widescreen - you'd need to get at least a 25" widescreen since as noted in OP it's display area height is aprox 12" too. Moral of this story is if you had a regular 19" LCD and you want to get a widescreen - don't get anything less than a 25" or you will not be happy on many levels.

    I just wanted to come back and close my post as resolved, while also leaving the answer to be of help to anyone else.

    It's an endless subject anyway with so many variables, and so much information out there, some not applicable; for instance what we used to realize with CRT Pixel Pitch is not the same with LCD Pixel Pitch, etc,