Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!ccwf.cc.utexas.edu From: awessels@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Allen Wessels) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Subject: Re: The Amiga's Future Message-ID: <50231@ut-emx.uucp> Date: 9 Jun 91 19:47:26 GMT References: <5092@orbit.cts.com> <50205@ut-emx.uucp> <_n1H0j?q@cs.psu.edu> Sender: news@ut-emx.uucp Reply-To: awessels@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Allen Wessels) Organization: The University of Texas at Austin Lines: 29 In article <_n1H0j?q@cs.psu.edu> melling@cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger) writes: >Are you sure about this? I remember reading in a MacWorld a couple of >years ago where they mentioned that the Mac only supports 72dpi >monitors. Before True Type and ATM you only had bitmap fonts and they >must be done for every display resolution. Methinks 72dpi is >hardwired into the Mac. Yes, I am sure that I can hook up a display with multiple resolutions. There is a 2PD-sized display called the Sigma L-view (I think) that will display 36-120 dpi (I forget what the increment is - there are about a half-dozen resolutions, I think.) If you want an addess to confirm, e-mail me, and I'll look it up at work. The low-cost color monitor that you can get with the LC is a 64 dpi monitor. The standard color and monochrome monitors are about 69 dpi. There are several places where 72 dpi becomes important. The menubar is set to a fixed pixel height. When Radius came out with a non-standard resolution monitor, they had to patch that. The human interface guidelines (I think)\ are usually phrased in pixel measurements, i.e. scrollbars are xx pixels wide. While bitmaps used to be required for BEST display and printing, the Mac has always had font scaling technology working. Of course, it is harder to scale a bitmap than an outline and have it look good. 72 dpi is "hardwired" into the Mac, sort of. Pixels are assumed to be displayed at that resolution. Any object drawn by the OS or Finder on a display where pixels are smaller will also be smaller, except for windows, which will generally be scaled to the size of the display.