Monitor Issues for Someone with Poor Eyesight

[afoygel]

Hello all.

I currently use Win XP with a 19" 4:3 LCD monitor, with a 1280x1024 native res. However, I run the monitor at 1024x768 because otherwise everything on the screen is just too small. I also have Large Fonts turned on in the Display >> Appearance settings, but that only pretty much affects the title bar text in windows. I know that it's really best to run your monitor in native res, so I'm trying to figure out a way to use my monitor in the way it was intended, without having to break my neck straining to see those tiny icons.

There is an option in the advanced setting to change the DPI from 96 to 120, or higher, and that got me wondering if that might be the best option for me. However, it seems some things become bigger and some things, like the text I'm typing right now, stays just as small.

Any solutions? (I basically want to use 1280, but I need everything to look the same size as 1024)

 

[boglwe]

If physical eyesight is your issue, I might actually have some help for you soon. A good friend of mine is losing his eyesight on a daily basis and he is constantly looking for new ways to help him with this. I will talk to him and see what he can come up with. Although, he is out of town for quite a long time, so dont count on me. Google this though, should be a lot of help via bad sight with monitors. There are also some options in XP disability options and also there are tons of programs to make text huge or small etc etc.

 

[afoygel]

Thanks bogiwe. A lot of the Windows solutions are pretty lame in the they make some text large and some stays smalls, layout starts looking mismatched and ugly. All I ever wanted was a bigger monitor so that I could see things better, but unfortunately it isn't so simple. Maybe there are some Windows themes that are easier on the eye.

 

[betasub]

Sounds like you want a large pixel pitch monitor. But if a 19" LCD at 1280x1024 (that's 5:4 BTW) is too small for you, you'll have to look outside the desktop LCD monitor market: the standard 19"LCD has a pixel pitch of 0.294, and you won't find larger than 0.3 (standard 15"LCD is also one of the largest at 0.298).

Using a CRT avoids the problem of small pixel pitch LCDs, or you could consider a small LCD TV/monitor: typically they have lower resolution panels across a larger area, and hence a (for you better) larger pixel pitch.

 

[Auric]

Enable "Ignore font sizes specified on Web pages" from Internet Options - General - Accessability; then adjust the browser font size accordingly from View. That, combined with setting DPI to 120 should help alot (may be better to reset Appearance fonts size back to normal). Formatting and icons will suffer though. Otherwise the only way is to make everything larger without such problems is with a larger but relatively lower resolution display as with the TV/monitor suggestion. Vista was allegedly supposed to improve upon the lackluster DPI scaling but failed to do so last I heard.

 

[themisfit610]

A good idea is to pick up a 30-40" 720p HDTV, and hook it up.

Everything will be BIG

~Misfit

 

[Laminator]

http://tvcalculator.com/index....508652ec30f9734238dc5f

19" 1280x1024 LCD versus 37" 1920x1080 (1080p) LCD. Westinghouse LVM-37W3, anyone?

19": Pixel Density: 7440 pixels / sq. in.
37": Pixel Density: 3547 pixels / sq. in.

 

[boglwe]

hey, i found a nice little tool for you, that might interest you. If you use firefox then go to tools and addons, and download an extension called "web developer", there is a button called resize and it magnifies everything in the browser INCLUDING TEXT.

just google Web Developer

 

[afoygel]

Thanks boglwe, I'll look that up. I was at the store today, and I looked at an Imac and it seemed to hande it better, things were readable even at high res. Too bad I like to play games once in a while.

 

[Srfrbum]

might sound lame but, how bout a 720p projector ? Everything would be nice and big if you had it @ 80 inches or so. 1024x720 i think.

 

[Peter]

LCD TVs have the lowest pixel density, as large as .5 millimeters.

Less stupid operating systems aside, the best 'monitor' choice would be a 1600x1200 20", run at 800x600 - that's 2:1 scaling, minimizing the blur that inherently occurs in fractional ratios.

 

[Viper GTS]

A 30" @ 1280x800 would also be decent, if buying a new display is an option.

A 1366x768 LCD TV would be the most cost effective choice.

If you need the screen real estate but can't read the text you might also look at screen magnifier utilities. I used one at a job where I needed the pixel real estate for the required software to render correctly but couldn't read the text as a result. There are free options out there, you could even use a cheap secondary monitor just for the magnifier.

Thankfully after two cornea transplants I no longer need such things but I know first hand what a pain in the ass it is.

Viper GTS

 

[afoygel]

My vision isn't quite bad enough to warrant extreme solutions like projectors or hdtvs. A 19" pretty close to my face is all the field of vision I can handle .