If You Want to Know More
How Does the Screen Display Information?
Part I: Getting To Know Your Computer
320
The video mode required by a program depends on:
❖
whether the program displays graphics or text.
❖
the resolution required for the text or graphics.
❖
the number of colors used.
❖
the font size (in pixels) of the text.
Based on these requirements, computers recognize two categories
of video modes: graphics modes and text modes.
In a graphics mode, programs can turn on and off individual pels
to display a variety of images. The computer controls every pel on
the screen individually. This provides maximum display flexibil-
ity while somewhat reducing the speed at which the display pro-
duces images.
An image produced this way could be a drawing or picture, like a
pie chart, graph or photograph. It could also be an icon or a varia-
tion on a text character, like italics or bold type.
Windows 95 and Windows programs use graphics modes.
If you’re using a display mode, such as SVGA, that uses more
space than the built-in display has available, the display goes
into virtual display mode. In this mode, the display pretends
it’s bigger than it really is by stretching the desktop so that
part of it is off the screen. To see the remainder of the desk-
top, move the pointer to the very bottom and right of the
screen.
Display modes that use less than the maximum resolution of
the internal display (800 x 600) occupy a smaller area of the
screen. In these modes, you’ll see a black border around the
screen image.
000-book.bk : 14-nerd.fm5 Page 320 Wednesday, May 15, 1996 4:15 PM
