If your monitor resolution is set to the default Windows settings
your probably viewing this at a resolution of 640 pixels by 480 pixels at 256 or 16 bit color.
What this means is that your monitor is covering your screen with 640 pixels wide & 480 pixels high and
showing only 256 colors to do it.
What's a pixel? Get up to your monitor real close & notice a small pattern area that is constucted with little
dots. That little dot is a pixel. Resolution is how many pixels wide by how many tall. Increasing this count
will eliminate or at least greatly reduce the number of side to side scrolling bars you probably get on many
web sites, like this one, and you can view the page width as intended. And if your seeing the background
color of this page as a shade of green, your not seeing it as it is intended. The proper color can't be reproduced
with only 256 colors.
Follow the directions below to adjust your resolution & color depth. This only covers Windows '95, '98 & NT.
The screen shots below will vary from system to system but you'll get the idea.
- Go to the "Start" button & select "Settings" from the menu.
- Next choose "Control Panel" from the pop up menu & double click it. The Control panel will open similar to figure 1.
Figure 1.
3. Find the "Display" icon & double click it, a window similar to figure 2 will open. Click on the "Settings" tab.
Figure 2.
4. At the bottom of the "Settings" tab, click on "Advanced", another window resembling figure 3 will open.
Figure 3.
5. In the 3 radio check boxes near the bottom, check "Apply the new color settings without restarting."
This will eliminate the need to re-boot to change the settings.
6. Click "O.K." at the bottom & refer back to figure 2.
7. Go to the "Colors" box, lower left, & select 16 or 32 bit color from the drop down menu.
8. Go to the lower right and drag the slider bar in the box entitled "Screen Area".
Slide the bar until you've achieved the desired setting of 800 X 600.
9. Click on "Apply" at the very bottom & answer any other prompts that may appear.
At this point I would like to suggest that you only raise these settings one step at a time &
observe your monitor for a few minutes. If you see any flickering or anything abnormal chances are your monitor and/or
video card can't handle this load. Put the settings back.
If at this point your set at 800 by 600, your good to go for most any viewing situation. You may not want to try the next
step up unless you have a 19" or larger monitor, you may not be able to see your icons or small text very
well.
Most modern browsers are Java Script compatible but not all have this feature activated by default. If it is not
activated, chances are you are missing many web features designed by webmasters today.
The following is an example of activation in all versions of Internet Explorer. Some small details may differ in versions,
and Netscape or Mozilla users can get the general idea from this.
From the "File Menu" open "Tools", "Internet Options". This opens the internet options dialogue.
Click on the "Security Tab", then click on the "custom Level" button.
Scroll down to "Java Permissions" and select "High Safety", click the OK button.
Answer yes to any prompts to follow asking permission to change. That's it!
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