All of the new desktop monitors are in the high-def television aspect ratio of 16:9. The previous generation of monitors likewise mirrored the TV aspect ratio of contemporary television [4:3] of the 20th century. One finding regarding this new size is with the ones 20" or more, they only look good if you set them at their maximum resolution setting which can be as "low" as 1600 x 900 pixels or as high as 1920 x 1080, some of the 30" monster monitors* go beyond that. If you set them lower than their maximum settings, it makes the screen look like a wallet photo blown up to poster size: fuzzy, blurry.

These larger monitors are not made to surf the net. They are made to multi-task or play games. Most users with big monitors fall into the "power user" category, having several software programs opened up at the same time. It's easier to have two or three programs up and open when you have acres of "desktop" space to play with, to use the Windows term. The catch is you never have any program opened up so it completely fills the screen since any program becomes "lost" spread out among all those square inches of space.

They are also great for PHOTOS! I went to a couple of my websites where I have extensive, high resolution photo galleries, with images big enough to nearly fill a 1920 pixel screen and they look fantastic! [click here and here for examples].

The biggest impact we can see with the dissemination of these larger monitors is the preeminence of photos over words. One side-effect of the larger screens set at higher resolution settings is text becomes smaller. Somehow, it seems just as easy to read but small text is viewed negatively by most web users. In other words, small text is skimmed or more often, skipped. The internet started as just text and in this new phase, will become more photogenic.

-Tim Corwin
June 2009

* today, you can buy a Samsung 3051 30" computer monitor for $899.99. The price on this size will drop as new, larger sizes come on to the market.