[photo of Bonneville Power Game] The Northwest Power System Curriculum

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Most newer browsers will support all of these formats and your screen resolution can usually be changed on both a PC or a MAC to at least 800 X 600. Although you can still navigate through most of the BPA site with ANY browser, if you are experiencing problems with this and other Web sites, you may want to consider upgrading your system. You could download a free browser, such as Internet Explorer or Netscape, or another browser with more current capabilities.

Many of the lessons are pages of text which were converted into Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format. Both PC's and Mac's can read these files once you download the FREE Acrobat Reader.

Changing Screen Resolution in Windows 95, 98, and NT

The factory setting for the resolution in Windows is 640 x 480 (640 pixels horizontally, 480 pixels vertically. Increasing the resolution can dramatically increase the amount of information you can see at one time. To change the screen display resolution:
In some cases, Windows needs to restart your computer in order to put the new settings into effect. In others, it simply resizes your desktop and then displays a dialog box asking if you want to retain the new settings. Unless you click Yes within 15 seconds, the old settings are reinstated automatically.

TIP: If you like the higher resolution but find it difficult to read the text, try changing the Font Size setting in the Display Properties dialog box from Small Fonts to Large Fonts. This will increase the size of characters on screen but not the point size of printed text.

Changing Screen Resolution on a Mac

As described above, Mac resolution is described in terms of dots (pixels) per inch (dpi) rather than horizontally or vertically across the entire screen. Thus, actual resolution will vary slightly depending on the size of the screen. There should, however, be a resolution available close to 800 x 600. To change the screen display resolution:

About Screen Resolution

Most monitors are capable of displaying images a various resolutions by changing the number of dots per inch. At a lower resolution, the image expands as if being looked at through a magnifying glass. At a higher resolution, everything on the screen shrinks, allowing you to see more information at once. Using a higher resolution could therefore allow viewing multiple windows at once or minimize scrolling within windows to see information normally off the viewable area. The majority of monitors sold today have the capability to display at least 800 x 600 resolution.

Resolution is usually described in terms of pixels. A pixel, which is short for picture element, is one of the many dots used to construct screen images. On a Mac, resolution is described in terms of number of dots (pixels) per inch (dpi), with 72 dpi as the norm. (That is 72 dots horizontally and 72 dots vertically.) On a PC, resolution is described in terms of the number of pixels displayed horizontally by the number of pixel displayed vertically across the entire screen (rather than within an inch). Thus, at comparable resolution, a larger Mac monitor will allow viewing of more information while a larger PC monitor will show the same amount of information, but on the larger PC monitor, the image will be larger. To take advantage of the larger PC monitor to display more information, you need to change to a higher resolution.    

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