InfoQube IM - Community

Submitted by Pierre_Admin on 2014/10/23 14:23

I'd like to create a user manual page on using IQ on high-DPI displays, used but some new laptops and tablets and am looking for your inputs as to what works best, and what needs fixing.

A bit of history first...

For centuries (ok... decades), PC displays have had similar DPIs (dot per inch), averaging 100 or so. Windows was built on this principle. The same for Macs, with a somewhat lower DPI of 72. Icons were 16 bits by 16 bits. Larger ones, 32 x 32, etc. Depending on the actual DPI, icons and apps looked smaller or larger. This was considered "normal".

Enter high-DPI displays, mostly on laptops and now tablets / convertibles / 2 in 1's... With values up to 300 DPI, apps were becoming unreasonably small.

Windows versions, 7 then 8 and now 8.1 have started addressing this issue, in different ways. Some work well, some cause fuzziness, some simply don't work.

Back to this post...

Are you using IQ on a high-DPI display. What setting works well on which OS version. What doesn't ?

Please share here and I'll write up a summary of the best practices in the user manual.

I'll also see what doesn't work and see if it can be addressed. This, to make IQ on a high-DPI display, a simple and pleasant experience !

Pierre_Admin

p.s. IMHO, this is a ridiculous trend, started by Apple with its "retina" displays. I predict that this trend will die, in a year or two, following the same fate as ridiculously flat 16:9 displays... In the end, we'll get nice 3:2 IPS displays with a more down to earth DPIs, around 150 or so.

Comments

Pierre, I use 120 dpi on my laptop and it works fine. The specs are below.

Not sure that I agree with you about this being a passing fad. Having migrated from film (I really miss film and much prefer it over digital), I need very high resolution displays to work on post processing. The difference is essential.

Sony Vaio Z, Intel Core i7, 8 GB RAM, 672 GB SSD

Windows 7 Professional 64 bit

Thanks for the info.

I was looking for the actual display setting

(OS version, display scaling, xp style or not, screen resolution, etc)

[quote=Pierre_Admin]

Thanks for the info.

I was looking for the actual display setting

(OS version, display scaling, xp style or not, screen resolution, etc)

[/quote]

1920 x 1080

Windows 7 Aero display

Does this address your needs?

Jon

Sony Vaio Z, Intel Core i7, 8 GB RAM, 672 GB SSD

Windows 7 Professional 64 bit

Great, thanks !

I can see why you aren't having too much issues as this is a moderate DPI.

Really high DPI is like the Lenovo Yoga Pro 3 which is 3200x1800 !

I also have (but don't use too much) a Dell Venue Pro 11. I don't recall its resolution, but I think it is about the same as my laptop. It's good, but tablets are not productive for me. It is useful for travel though.

Jon

Sony Vaio Z, Intel Core i7, 8 GB RAM, 672 GB SSD

Windows 7 Professional 64 bit

My situation is as follows. I bought a new Surface Pro 3 this week, pretty much to use InfoQube and also the Windows version of Excel which runs much better than the Mac version.

Plus I like the iPad paradigm, but needed more power.

I had been using a Mac + Parallels for InfoQube, but that didn't really work for me.

The Surface Pro 3 has a screen size of 2160 x 1440 pixels and a resolution/pixel density of 216ppi.

Initially InfoQube looked 'OK', but the text was fuzzy, especially when compared to the crystal clear and sharply focused Excel and OneNote Apps, for example.

So I tinkered about (with Pierre's help - thanks again!) and eventually came up with the only combination that works for me. Under this setting the text is super-clear and focused, but a little on the small side.

Icons are also small, but luckily I know them all already. In all, this setting is 'OK' but still a temp work-around rather than a long-term solution, in my view.

There are two areas to tweek: in (Windows) File Explorer, and in the Display settings in the Control Panel:

FIrstly in Program Properties (right-click the Infoqube.exe file in FIle Explorer), under the 'Compatibility' tab:

I have checked the box: Run this Program in Compatibility mode for: ... and selected Windows 8

And I also checked the box: Disable display scaling on high DPI settings

Secondly, in Control Panel/Display under 'Change the size of all items'

I checked the box "Let me choose one scaling level for all my displays"

and checked the box for "Larger - 150%"

It's nice to see jet-black in-focus fonts. There may be days when I will revert back to the more familiar sale, even with slightly blurred text, just for the familiarity and if my eyes get strianed looking at really small icons etc.

HTH

TLM

Hi TLM,

This is great news and I'm glad I could help. The Surface Pro 3 is one heck of a nice machine... lucky you !

Regarding the icon size, have you tried using large icons for IQ (right-click on a toolbar > Customize > Options) ?

Ah, OK. I wasn't aware of that. Thanks

Using the larger icons setting helps a bit - the button becomes bigger, but the icon symbol itself stays small

TLM

Confirmed and fixed in v0.9.26PreRel34