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This web site has been 'optimised' for screen resolutions of (at least) 800 x 600 pixels.
What does this mean?
Well, the easy part to explain is that lots of different size computer monitors exist in the world. Typically the size of a monitor is measured in inches as measured across the diagonal of the displayable screen area. Average monitor sizes have been getting bigger as mass production techniques bring prices down. At the time of writing, the average general-purpose home/office monitor size is about 15", but 17" monitors are being becoming much more commonplace, and will probably be considered 'standard' shortly.
But what has the size of a monitor got to do with 'screen resolution'?
Screen resolution (also known as 'display area' or 'screen area') determines how large or small any given element of the display (eg. the words you are reading right now) will appear on your screen. The larger your monitor, the 'smaller' (relative to the size of your monitor) these elements can be before they become illegible.
So whilst the physical size of your monitor is fixed, the screen resolution is not. For any given monitor size (eg. 15"), you can instruct your computer to display information on your monitor at different screen resolutions.
The following table shows a matrix of typical screen resolutions (left column) and monitor sizes (top row). The descriptions refer to the general-purpose suitability of screen resolutions to monitor sizes.
| | 14" monitor | 15" monitor | 17"+ monitor |
| 640 x 480 pixels | * ideal * | big and bold | unnecessarily big |
| 800 x 600 pixels | a bit hard to read | * ideal * | big and bold |
| 1024 x 768 pixels | v. difficult to read | a bit hard to read | * ideal * |
A-ha! Now I get it! So you've optimised the screen resolution to 800 x 600 pixels because the majority of the Internet users have 15" (or larger) monitors?
Exactly.
So how do I change or check my screen resolution?
Microsoft Windows users should select the following options:
Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Display -> Settings
You should get to a window looking something like what you see below. From here you can adjust the screen resolution using the sliding pointer.
Disclaimer: not all computer monitors (and graphics cards) are 'happy' displaying different screen resolutions. If you're not sure what you're doing, please contact a qualified computer technician to assist you. To learn more, try this link: "How Computer Monitors Work".
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