Old guy who knows nothing about computers question:
We just got a new monitor yesterday because the other one just stopped working. It's a 19" wide screen monitor, but most websites show up in the middle section with big black margins on the left and right. Is this a function of the website or is there some setting I can adjust to fill up the screen?
Also, in Microsoft Outlook, it fills up the screen, but the type is really, really tiny. My eyes are old and can't see things this little.
Help an old man, please!
CRZ had to edit my profile and close my table for me. I am a bad man.
When you say that websites show up in the middle, where is your Task bar? Does it stretch across the entire screen at that point, or is it also just in the middle?
Which version of Outlook are you using?
You probably need to adjust your font size and/or your display settings, but I think either you are describing what is happening badly or I'm not sure what you mean.
Your display size (the number of pixels wide you desire your screen to be) is adjustable. Just minimize all windows on your screen, right-click your mouse, then select the "Settings" tab. There's a box called "Screen Resolution". Moving the tab to the left will increase the size of everything on your screen. This will both increase your font size and reduce the amount of black space on fixed pixel width sites.
That's exactly it. Some sites fill the screen, some do not. Outlook seems to be another story. It fills the screen and super small.
If you set the resolution to 1440 x 900, you can crystal clear images, but some sites don't fill up the screen and look really tiny.
If you change the resolution to something less (like 1280 x 600), then stuff gets bigger, but it gets blurrier.
So, I think what you are all saying is that, for the screen to filled and big enough to read, it's going to be blurry. But if we go with the best resolution, it will be super sharp but too small to read.
Damn.
CRZ had to edit my profile and close my table for me. I am a bad man.
If you're using Firefox, you can change the mininum font size of a web page by going to Tools (at the top menu bar) -> Options -> Content tab -> the Advanced button in the Fonts & Colors section. If you're using Opera, the Page Zoom function might help, but I haven't used Opera in a long time.
Have you also messed around with the DPI setting? (i.e. right-click on desktop -> Properties -> Settings tab -> Advanced button -> DPI setting in Display section of General tab). Try that and stick with your monitor's native resolution of 1400 x 900 or what's listed on the box and see if that improves anything.
yeah, ok. Leave it at that setting then. It's the setting where the number of pixels matches up with the resolution on the display - anything else is non-native - you end up with the blurriness that you describe.
You probably want to set Windows to use larger fonts than it is using. This will carry through to IE I believe. You can also hold down Control and scroll your mouse wheel to change the size of the page.
Originally posted by JALmanIf you're using Firefox, you can change the mininum font size of a web page by going to Tools (at the top menu bar) -> Options -> Content tab -> the Advanced button in the Fonts & Colors section. If you're using Opera, the Page Zoom function might help, but I haven't used Opera in a long time.
Have you also messed around with the DPI setting? (i.e. right-click on desktop -> Properties -> Settings tab -> Advanced button -> DPI setting in Display section of General tab). Try that and stick with your monitor's native resolution of 1400 x 900 or what's listed on the box and see if that improves anything.
Yes, it is Firefox. I did the first thing and changed the font size several times. That helped on some pages.
After you posted this, I did mess around in the DPI settings and changed it from 90 to 120 (125%) and that seemed to help a little more too.
Outlook Express is still teeny weeny though, but our browsing with Firefox is improved.
CRZ had to edit my profile and close my table for me. I am a bad man.
Pieman, we got one of the flat screen monitors and it looked all weird - there was a button on there, and we pushed it, it went through some sort of reset cycle and it adjusted to my PC - perfectly. Looked more or less just like my old 19 inch - but brighter and thinner.
I am not home, but it was something like auto adjust or auto calibrate - but it was small - in fact, it was in back and down near where the monitor fits into the base.
If you're refering to certain webpages have black (or other colours) bars down the side of them, it's possible the web page(s) was designed only for a certain resolution in mind. How big was the old monitor and did you use a small resolution?
Not all webpages are designed with 1440 x 900 in mind =)
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On a related note - I am equally as computer-savvy as Pieman and was wondering: Do/Can apps like World of Warcraft fill the screen on a widescreen monitor? Does it look any better or worse as a result? We just ordered one the other day and I didn't even think about that.
You have to choose your video setting for WoW. There are two different widescreen options to choose - one in the 1280 ballpark and the other is in the 1600 ballpark. I forget the specifics.
If you have a widescreen monitor, choose one of these. Everything will look normal, you will just have a wider screen. If you use one of the standard aspect ratios on a widescreen everything will seem stretched.
I use a widescreen monitor for WoW and it works great!
Originally posted by Guru ZimI can speak to WoW specifically.
You have to choose your video setting for WoW. There are two different widescreen options to choose - one in the 1280 ballpark and the other is in the 1600 ballpark. I forget the specifics.
If you have a widescreen monitor, choose one of these. Everything will look normal, you will just have a wider screen. If you use one of the standard aspect ratios on a widescreen everything will seem stretched.
I use a widescreen monitor for WoW and it works great!
Same for Anarchy Online.
Alot of the big company games support 16:9 resolutions, but I'm finding that many small company/homebrews do 4:3 only.
Originally posted by Guru ZimI can speak to WoW specifically.
You have to choose your video setting for WoW. There are two different widescreen options to choose - one in the 1280 ballpark and the other is in the 1600 ballpark. I forget the specifics.
If you have a widescreen monitor, choose one of these. Everything will look normal, you will just have a wider screen. If you use one of the standard aspect ratios on a widescreen everything will seem stretched.
I use a widescreen monitor for WoW and it works great!
I know Widescreen Gaming Forum is a good place for info on setting up widescreen on many games. Especially if the game doesn't come with native widescreen support (WoW is too dang popular not to have it, I hope).