Community weekly poll: Which screen resolution do you prefer?

Just moving up

In reply to: Which screen resolution do you prefer? by Marc Bennett 

I like 1024 but will be moving up one step next week. Finally getting a flat screen monitor with even higher resolutions. Kinda like watching a movie with Widescreen instead of a "scrunched" up picture. Hope that makes sense

(NT) resolution: 1280x1040, monitor size: 19"

In reply to: Which screen resolution do you prefer? by Marc Bennett 

Monitor Resolution

In reply to: Which screen resolution do you prefer? by Marc Bennett 

I have a 19" ViewSonic VX900 LCD and run it at its maximum resolution (1280x1024) for everything I do including games. Everything looks grat and my eyes no longer get fatigued.

what resolution do you prefer?

In reply to: Which screen resolution do you prefer? by Marc Bennett 

1024x768

1024x768

In reply to: Which screen resolution do you prefer? by Marc Bennett 

This seems to be best for my 17" LCD monitor. I really haven't given it much thought since setting up my computer a couple of years ago.

Square Pixels are Important

In reply to: Which screen resolution do you prefer? by Marc Bennett 

My favorite resolution is 1024x768 for a 17" CRT or a 15" or 17" LCD.
1600x1200 is great for really big monitors of 21" or greater.

The resolution 1280x1024 is evil.
The reason I say this because the pixels are not square. More on this below.

When viewing graphics at 1280x1024 all images will appear to be stretched slightly wider (but not taller) than they should. this includes both artwork, and photos.

This is why:

On resolutions 640x480, 1024x768, and 1600x1200, the display aspect ratio is 4:3 or 1.3333:1. Since the physical screen width is 1.333 of the screen height, the pixels are square (pixel aspect ratio of 1:1).

PDAs also support resolutions with square pixels: 160x160, 320x320, 240x320, and 480x640.

The only widely used resolution with this problem is 1280x1024.

With 1280x1024 the Display aspect ratio (DAR) is 5:4 or 1.25:1. with the physical screen being 4:3 or 1.3333:1.

This results in each pixel being slightly wider than tall.

Why does this matter?

Because any artwork or photos viewed in 1280x1024 are not appearing as the artist (or photographer) intended.

Likewise,
If an artist works in this resolution, all of their work will look different than they intended in any resolution other than 1280x1024.

Bottom Line is that 1280x1024 is fine for most people if you don't mind all images being stretched a bit.

It should definitely be taboo for ALL artists.

I haven't done the calculations for widescreen resolutions. I hope the manufacturers were smart enough to use square pixels.

For those interested, here's an article that explains aspect ratios for the movie industry.
http://www.mir.com/DMG/aspect.html

Radical

Screen Resolution

In reply to: Which screen resolution do you prefer? by Marc Bennett 

I rather 1024x768 because most of the monitors i own are 17" monitors which only support up to that resolution. Well if i get something that can support highter well i might just change.