Improve Screen Readability – LCD Screen Native Resolution

It never fails to amaze me how many people do not take the time to optimise the readability of their screens particularly when they will be using it for many hours a day. I must have lost count of the number of times I have seen LCD screens running below their native resolution resulting in suboptimal output. This has been a particular issue for older operating systems which would not automatically set the best possible resolution of which the display is capable.

What needs to be understood is what exactly is the “native resolution” of a display.

Since the advent of liquid crystal displays (LCDs)as well as light emitting diode (LED) and plasma displays screens have had a finite number of pixels built into them whereas the older cathode ray tube (CRT) displays used an electron guy to fire pixels onto a screen. CRTs could display a number of resolutions up to their maximum resolution whilst retaining good visual quality across those available resolutions. In contrast, LCDs running at lower than native resolutions would have to stretch an image to fill the screen often resulting in blockiness when the ratio between these resolutions is not a whole number.

For example, an LCD screen with a native resolution of 1600 by 1200 pixels running at 1024 by 768 pixels would result in blockiness. By using some simple mathematics we can work out that this is because the ratio between the native resolution and the current resolution is not a whole number:

• 1600 * 1200 = 1,920,000
• 1024 * 768 = 786,432
• 1,920,000 / 786,432 = 2.441406

However, running the screen at a resolution of 800 by 600 would eliminate blockiness and align the image evenly across the display:

• 1600 * 1200 = 1,920,000
• 800 * 600 = 480,000
• 1,920,000 / 480,000 = 4

Of course, running at such a low resolution on a display capable of much higher resolutions is a waste particular in the above example where four times more screen real estate can be realised by setting the example display at its native resolution of 1600 by 1200.

More often than not the maximum selectable resolution will be the native resolution of the display. To change the screen resolution you can do the following:

• Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP:
  • Right click on a blank part of the desktop,
  • Left click on “Properties”,
  • Drag the slider all the way to the right,
  • Click “Apply” then accept the changes on the following dialogue box.
• Windows Vista:
  • Right click on a blank part of the desktop,
  • Left click on “Personalize” (American spelling),
  • Click on the “Display Settings” link,
  • Drag the slider all the way to the right,
  • Click “Apply” then accept the changes on the following dialogue box.
• Windows 7:
  • Right click on a blank part of the desktop,
  • Left click on “Screen Resolution”,
  • Click on the drop down menu next to “Resolution”,
  • Drag the slider all the way up to the top,
  • Click “Apply” then accept the changes on the following dialogue box.

Running your display at its native resolution is just one thing you can do to improve overall readability. Stay tuned as tomorrow I will give you another handy tip to further improve and tune text readability on your screen.