Two screens with the same resolution (eg 1024 x 768) will have a different resolution if their size is different.
Obviously there's something wrong with this sentence. It's a concept issue, which is at the root of this discussion. We say "the resolution of my screen is 1024 x 768" just like we say "I weight 50 Kg (110 lbs)". Anybody will know what you mean. Both statements are so wrong however and lead to many confusions.
The resolution is about the size of the pixels, not the amount. The resolution can be measured in pixel per inches, for instance. Rephrasing the first sentence correctly will yield: Two screens in 1024 x768 will be of different resolutions if their size is different.
The misleading part is that if you change the number of pixels on your screen (eg 1024x768 => 800 x 600) you will only change the resolution as a side effect because the size of your screen obviously remains the same. Now, if your software truly supports resolution independence, going from 1024x768 to 800 x 600 won't change the size (in cm / inches) of the elements on display. The fonts and artwork will just look more crappy.
From Wikipedia : Resolution independence is a computing concept whereby elements on a computer screen are rendered at sizes independent from the pixel grid, resulting in a UI that is displayed at a consistent size, regardless of the size of the screen.
If this may actually be what you want in case of iphones or MBPs (same size of UI, with more details on devices which can display them). However, this may not be what you want in every situation. For instance, I don't want my work being resolution independent when displaying it on a video projector… That would be bad.
On 12 sept. 2012, at 20:54, Steve Mills wrote: On Sep 12, 2012, at 12:51:26, Erik Stainsby wrote:
"Point" is such a standardized measure, and equates to approx. 1/72nd of an inch. Regardless of the surface it is rendered upon - paper, screen or celluloid.
Yes, I think we all know what a point is.
So you know that a point is approximately 1/72 inch ? Good. Now, inches measure distances. Which means that if you request the OS to draw a 144 points line, you request it to draw a 2 inch long line. No matter the resolution. And if the system does not comply, this means that it is not resolution independent. But you can't measure in points on a monitor, because every monitor is a different size and offers different resolutions. The industry never attempted to keep the relative size of things equal to the real world size. That would be ludicrous.
Well actually you can. Points, as we just agreed, measure distances. The issue is, as you point out, that every monitor is a different size and offers different resolutions. So, to represent a 144 points line on those monitor, you will need different amount of pixels. This is probably the reason why the concept of resolution independence was invented so long ago. And since software could not guess what the resolution of the screen was, programmers resorted to tricks such as requesting the user to measure, with a ruler, the size of a line drawn on the display. Without resolution independence, users with a retina display would have tiny little fonts, really very difficult to read.
Cheers,
Jean
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