Resolution is the number of "dots" that make up an image or printed page. When working with print materials, we generally refer to the physical size of the printed page -- an image could be three inches by four inches, for example. A printing device is capable of reproducing the image in a particular resolution, expressed as "dots" or "lines" per inch. Thus, a three inch by four inch photograph reproduced on a laser printer with a resolution of 600 dpi (dots per inch) will consist of a grid of 1800 dots by 2400 dots.

Since both the physical size and resolution of a printed page are fixed, a device that is printing an image will adjust the image to fit the page. For example, if we had a scan of an image that consisted of 100 dots across and we wished to print that image at any size, a printer and computer will automatically take away or fill in missing dots to ensure that the image prints at the desired size. That is the reason that a low-quality scan, when printed, may appear with jagged edges or "pixelated" when printed at a size that is too large.

With a computer monitor, however, the physical size of the "printed" material is variable, while the resolution remains fixed to certain standard sizes. What this means is that the number of "pixels" (or dots) that make up an image becomes extremely important -- the image will be reproduced exactly as it was originally scanned and will not be resized to "fit" a particular computer display on many authoring systems.

Monitor resolutions are fixed in several "standard" configurations, shown in the table below. When designing a web site or multimedia presentation, you should first consider the type of monitor configuration that the prospective audience will use -- that will determine the pixel size of the graphics you use and some layout considerations for your materials.

PC's                     |Macs                            |Resolution


                         |                                |


Older 486 computers,     |040 and early PowerMacs,        |640 x 480


13"-15" monitors         |13" - 15" monitors              |


                         |                                |							


Early Pentium computers, |Later PowerMacs, early G-series;|800 x 600 


15"-17" monitors         |15" and up                      |


                         |                                |						


current Pentium II-      |current G-series and Imac,      |1024 x 768


Pentium III computers,   |15" and up monitors             |


15" and up monitors      |                                |

Note: On many current PC's, the computers and monitors are capable of displaying 1024x768 resolution, but they come preconfigured at a lower resolution (usually 800x600). Even though the monitor and computer would more be more useable and may be designed for use at the higher resolution, many users keep the monitor at the default setting.

To view the current resolution of your monitor, choose the Display control panel on the Macintosh or examine the "Display Properties" control panel in Windows. An example is shown below.