What the heck is screen resolution?
Why do some web sites say to view at one resolution or another?
Why would I want to change my screen resolution?
What's my screen resolution now?
How do I change it?

What the heck is screen resolution?
The display on your computer screen is made up of tiny squares of color called pixels. The word "pixel" is an abbreviation of "pictures (pix, for short) element." The pixel is the smallest piece of any picture displayed on your computer monitor screen. High resolution refers to a display that has lots of pixels and is usually a higher quality picture, suitable for printing. Images designed to be shown on web pages are usually of somewhat lower resolution so that they load into your browser more quickly.

Modern monitors have the ability to show the pixels of an image in various sizes. The smaller the pixels your monitor displays, the higher the quality of pictures you'll see and the more pixels you'll be able to see at once and therefore the less scrolling you'll be doing as you view a web page.

If your screen resolution is set to 800 by 600, for instance, you're actually seeing 800 pixels across the width of the screen and 600 pixels from top to bottom.

Generally, if you have a larger monitor, you can more easily see the display set at a higher resolution.

Click here to Return to the Southern Comfort - Rogue Fan Club web site!

Why do some web sites say to view at one resolution or another?
Web site designers use various screen resolutions themselves. Ideally, they'd like you to be able to see the web site they've created in the way they intended it to be seen. if your screen resolution isn't high enough, you may be missing portions of the web pages on the site, including menu items. If your resolution is too high, the site may seem unbalanced or be hard to navigate.

Because monitor sizes and screen resolutions vary, many webmasters now offer the courtesy of letting their visitors know the ideal resolution with which to view that site.

You, of course, have the option of ignoring that information and viewing the site at your own screen resolution of choice, but you are at least then aware that you may be missing information offered to you or seeing things displayed in a way that may not be as aesthetically pleasing as possible.

Click here to Return to the Southern Comfort - Rogue Fan Club web site!

Why would I want to change my screen resolution?
Changing to a higher screen resolution can be greatly beneficial if you spend any amount of time on the World Wide Web. Not only will you find you don't have to scroll nearly as much as you browse web pages, you'll be able to see much more of every web page at one time and view pictures and text in their intended layout. Any screen resolution you use will allow you to view content on web pages that have been designed at that resolution or at any lower resolution.

Almost all web pages are now being designed for viewing either at 800x600 or at 1024x768. With your own screen resolution set to 1024 by 768, you'll be able to see all the content on any of them.

You may not be happier with a higher resolution if you have:

• extremely bad eyesight
• a very small monitor
• a very old monitor
• any combination of the above

A higher screen resolution makes icons and other items appear somewhat smaller. While it may take a little "getting used to", you'll quickly grow accustomed to this.

Some older monitors are not able to change resolution or cannot change to anything over a certain setting, such as 800 by 600. If this is the case with your monitor, you will be likely to be looking for a new monitor soon anyway. Visit here again once you have upgraded, if you're ready to change your resolution then.

Click here to Return to the Southern Comfort - Rogue Fan Club web site!

What's my screen resolution set to right now?

To find your screen resolution, first close all the open windows/folders/applications on your computer.

If you are in Windows, right-click on any area of your desktop where there is no icon. A menu will come up. Click on "Properties", then click "Settings". You should see your screen resolution displayed there.

If you are using a Macintosh computer, select "Apple", "Control Panels", "Monitors & Sound". You should see your resolution highlighted there.

Click here to Return to the Southern Comfort - Rogue Fan Club web site!

How do I change my monitor's screen resolution?

Follow the steps above under What's my screen resolution set to right now? and either click on the resolution you want or click and hold your mouse to drag an indicator to a higher (or lower) setting.

Click here to Return to the Southern Comfort - Rogue Fan Club web site!