In the beginning was the »CRT«.
A cathode-ray tube is limited by manufacturing
constraints. The luminance decreases when the
»pitches« shrink, resulting in physical constraints
for the possible resolution of a CRT. For a very
long time we were burdened with displays of about
72ppi to 85ppi max.
Computing power was also limited
during the heyday of CRTs. Today, computing
power exists in abundance, and TFT-LCD Monitors are
commonplace.
LCDs have constrains too, others than CRTs have. LCDs
ain’t good at displaying Motion. This is due to the
mass of the liquid crystals. Smaller pitches means
less mass and improves the responsiveness of LCDs.
High-Definition video is a driving force toward monitors
with high resolution. And HD has already left its mark
on nowadays computing.
May it be as a traveling device for watching movies or
as a video editing machine.
In consequence the smallest resolution for a single
monitor will be High-Definition (HD) –1920x1440 or
1920x1080 pixels–regardless of the monitor’s physical
dimension.
These transition is under way now.
Standard laptops can be ordered with HD resolution.
A 15.4 inch monitor thus features a resolution around
150ppi. Twice the resolution CRTs once had!
Normal mobile phones do already have resolution higher
then 290ppi. Software techniques such as
anti-aliasing, to simulate a higher resolution, has no
effect with these displays anymore.
The convergence between mobile phones, computer and
video makes it reasonable certain, that HD-Video will
be played on such devices with full resolution.
There is no technical reason to stop at 290ppi.
Monitors should feature resolution beyond
600ppi. Finally rivaling the resolution of printed books
and replacing them.
Higher resolution has an immanent impact on Graphical User Interface
design. While the obsolete CRTs will remain with us
for a period of time, new high resolution displays
have already entered the market.
And even higher resolution
have to be expected. Only one conclusion can be
drawn for developing Software today:
Graphical User Interfaces must be resolution independent!
Well, resolution independence isn’t exactly
cheap to get. A battery of old working habits
have to be abandoned!