Resolution independence and bigger icons

[iJed]

Just thought I'd mention this since I've seen it nowhere else:

I was just reading through the developer release notes included with Tiger. It appears that it is adding resolution independence to the OS finally! This is something I think will definitely be important in the future.

Also in the same document is mentioned icon max size has increased to 256*256.

 

[rendezvouscp]

That's really interesting. I wonder why they upped the icon size .
–Chase

 

[MoparShaha]

That's really interesting. I wonder why they upped the icon size .
–Chase

Probably because at high resolutions, even 128x128 looks small. On my CRT I run 1600x1200, and a 128x128 icon is not that large. The new 30" LCD was probably the catalyst for this.

 

[gekko513]

woohoo ... this is great news!! can't wait for the 15" PowerBook to be available with a 1920x1200 BTO option

 

[nuckinfutz]

For your resolution independent viewing habit

http://www.purrrr.net/temp/applications.png

http://www.purrrr.net/temp/quartzdebug.png

Apple would support larger icons because they are bitmaps not vectors so the more choices you have in sizes the easier it is to match the icons to the rest of the UI

 

[Catfish_Man]

It's quite buggy right now, and the release notes claim that it's not going to be turned on for 10.4.0, but it's very cool. The Finder looks like ass zoomed in (I'm pretty sure it's just drawing itself, then scaling the bitmap), but the menubar text looks amazing.

 

[cb911]

what exactly would 'resolution independance' do? would that be something like being able to up the resolution, to 'virtually' go beyond your native resolution or the monitor?

 

[robbieduncan]

what exactly would 'resolution independance' do? would that be something like being able to up the resolution, to 'virtually' go beyond your native resolution or the monitor?

You can use one of these without going blind and running at full resolution. Basically you can use the massive pixel density to get crisper sharper text and graphics.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

what exactly would 'resolution independance' do? would that be something like being able to up the resolution, to 'virtually' go beyond your native resolution or the monitor?

I'm also curious about this - would resolution independence solve once and for all the problem of having, say, a 15 inch PowerBook that you use on the go, along with a 20 inch LCD monitor that you use at home - when at home, you scale up your windows to fill the 20" LCD, but when on the road, your scaled up windows go offscreen on the PowerBook's 15" LCD?

 

[cr2sh]

woohoo ... this is great news!! can't wait for the 15" PowerBook to be available with a 1920x1200 BTO option

My Laititude D800 has a 15" screen featuring native 1920x1200 resolution. Very nice, indeed.

 

[robbieduncan]

I'm also curious about this - would resolution independence solve once and for all the problem of having, say, a 15 inch PowerBook that you use on the go, along with a 20 inch LCD monitor that you use at home - when at home, you scale up your windows to fill the 20" LCD, but when on the road, your scaled up windows go offscreen on the PowerBook's 15" LCD?

In theory you could use it for this (as long as they are the same aspect).

 

[michaelrjohnson]

Would I be able to make some windows smaller, thereby increasing my screen real-estate? (With massive anti-aliasing, I might imagine)

 

[Sabbath]

This is really good news, hopefully we will see higher res screens on the PBs, my friend also has a 1920x1200 dell and it is a really nice screen as long as everything is sized up. Judging by the cost he paid to upgrade the dell screen it doesn't seem very expenisve to add higher res screens maybe $100 for current 15" res to 1920x1200.