Here's how to change your monitor resolution settings

Why would you want to change your monitor resolution or color settings?
Don't be afraid...it's easy to change and it's easy to change back.

If you have a 17" monitor try something like 1024 x 768 to see what you have been missing. See below for simple step by step instructions. Experiment - you can always change it back.
OPERATING SYSTEM
Windows:

1. Go to Start Button/Settings/Control Panel.
2. Select Display
3. In the "Display Properties" window select the Settings tab.
4. Use the slider to select your desired resolution.

**Alternately, with your cursor on the desktop, click the right side of your mouse and select properties, then proceed to step 3!!
Windows 3.1 & NT: 1. Go to Main/Control Panel/Display
2. Change the Desktop Area to desired resolution
Macintosh:

1. Click on the apple icon at the top left of your screen
2. Select Control Panels/Monitors and Sound
3. Click on the Monitor icon and select desired resolution

**Alternate for 0S8 through 9.2 - Click open your control strip (the little tab that usually is located on the bottom left side of your screen). Click on the icon that looks like a monitor with a checkerboard on it. Drag your mouse to the desired setting and release!

**For OS X - Click open your control strip and go to system preferences. Click on the icon at the top that is for "display".

 

This is what the Windows "Display Properties" window looks like;

 

Explanation of Screen Resolution:

Screen resolution refers to the dimensions of the pixels displayed on a monitor. Many computers come preset to a resolution of 640 X 480 pixels. That means that your computer will display a screen of 640 pixels wide and 480 pixels high on the monitor -- whether you have a 14", 15", or 17" monitor. The size of the monitor does not determine the screen resolution. But the bigger the monitor, the bigger the screen resolution you can use.

Viewing your screen, everything gets smaller as the resolution goes up. That's because the monitor is displaying a larger number of pixels in the same screen space. On the Web most people want as large a resolution as they can get. The larger the resolution, the more you can fit on the screen.

Try setting your resolution to 1024 x 768 or thereabouts and see what you have been missing on the internet!

top of page

Color Settings:

While you are customizing your monitor resolution, you may also want to check your color settings. The best practical resolution to use on the Web is 64,000 colors, unless you have a Macintosh or a high-end computer that can display millions of colors. You can get near photographic quality using thousands of colors, and you'll find many web graphics look much better than when your display is set to only 256 colors. Some multimedia CD-ROM's with animations require you to set your display to 256 colors, but surfing the web is more fun with more colors.

On both Windows and Macintosh, the color settings can be adjusted from the same windows/control panels as the monitor resolution.

top of page