How many dpi for a standard screen?

[jmt111]

I read somewhere online that a standard pc displays 96 dpi and a standard Mac 72 dpi. Shoud a web sites’s graphics therefore display at 96 dpi since there are more pc’s than Mac’s?

Also, is it true that going over 96 dpi will just take the images longer to load but without increasing quality on standard computer screens?

[hans-g.]

Hi,

what do you think about asking Google and and its unfathomable fund?

http://www.google.de/#hl=de&source=hp&q=How+many+dpi+for+a+standard+screen%3F&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&fp=...

Hans-G.

[jmt111]

The answers on Google contradict one another. Some say 72 dpi, others say 96 dpi, others say it’s irrelevant. Even individual pages have self-contradictory answers. For instance, at http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=647983, Kerosene says “Always use 72dpi for images that will actually be displayed on your site” and RRWH says “DPI is irrelevent when displaying images online.” I assume the latter is true because ScanTips.com has written an entire manifesto against 72 dpi at http://www.scantips.com/no72dpi.html?

[John Waller]

You're confusing yourself.

1 image pixel = 1 pixel on screen.

dpi is irrelevant on screen. It only matters when printing.

A 100px x 100px image is always 100px x 100px on screen.

[jmt111]

Suppose I have an image and I want it to show up on the web page as 1” x 1”. In Photoshop, the image is 1” x 1” at 300 pixels/inch. Should I set it to 72 pixels/inch, since most monitors these days, at least according to web sites I’ve read, have a pixelation density of 72 pixels per inch? If I leave it at 300 pixels/inch, won’t it really show up as 4.2” x 4.2” on 72 pixel/inch monitors?

[hans-g.]

Hi,

it's so as John said, it's only interesting when you are printing. Better an expert like this one can explain:

http://www.andrewdaceyphotography.com/articles/dpi/ and and I remember a thread here in the forum, similar this article here:

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/715683.

Hans-G.

[MurraySummers]

1" on your screen will likely not be the same as 1" on my screen.

[Harm_Millaard]

Simple example why DPI is completely irrelevant.

Two monitors, both 1920 x 1080 resolution. One is 19" and the other one is 70".

The horizontal DPI on the 19" is almost 115 DPI, and the second one is just over 31 DPI.

The only thing that counts is pixel resolution.

[osgood_]

jmt356 wrote:

Suppose I have an image and I want it to show up on the web page as 1” x 1”. In Photoshop, the image is 1” x 1” at 300 pixels/inch. Should I set it to 72 pixels/inch, since most monitors these days, at least according to web sites I’ve read, have a pixelation density of 72 pixels per inch? If I leave it at 300 pixels/inch, won’t it really show up as 4.2” x 4.2” on 72 pixel/inch monitors?

In Photoshop look at the px dimensions of the image at 300dpi they are usually initailly larger than that after you re-sample down to 72dpi.

There is an option in Photoshop to View>Pixel Size or Print Size.

As a rule of thumb I just resample hi-res images down to 72dpi in Photoshop and they retain the same physical size. ie the 72dpi size becomes the same size (size for size) as that what you are viewing on screen at 300dpi (print size)

You have to have some kind of starting point but as pointed out most likely UNLESS your screen resolution is set (size for size) people will see your image/text at different sizes.

Job done,

[matthew stuart]

I understand dpi to be a printing resolution for the type of printer that you are going print to. Dots per inch refers to how many dots are printed on paper within a square inch.

Magazines use 300+ dpi, to ensure that the reader sees a smooth image, but if you look closely at a magazine, you will see that almost every bit of colour on the page will have a series of dots of varying sizes made from CYAN, MAGENTA, YELLOW and BLACK and variation of dot sizes between all four colours gives us the wide ranging colours that we see in magazines. If you look at a newspaper, the course paper they use means that the dots used to produce the same image as that in a magazine have to be bigger. This reduces the amount of dots you can fit within an inch. If you look at a newspaper, you will see the dots that make up an image much easier than the same image if it was in a magazine printed on glossy paper.

In my mind, it doesn't matter if you have produce for 72 or 96 ppi (pixels per inch). The site you create will be governed by the users system, and whatever they are looking at, it should all be viewed at the system setting whether it is an image or text. Your site will look bigger on a 72 ppi system when compared to a 96 ppi system. If I post a 300 dpi image which is a 1000 pixels wide, it will only render on the screen a 1000 pixels wide... dpi becomes irrelevant in this instance.

[kemch1013]

Concerning images, when designing for the web, DPI is meaningless. If you would like to know the DPI of your monitor, grab a ruler (a real one), hold it up to your monitor and count the number of pixels that appear in one inch.

An image 400px x 400px @ 1dpi, 10dpi, 300dpi, and 72 dpi are 400px by 400px on everyone's screen.

Standard widths of websites tend to not to beyond 1020px.

Check out the 960 grid system. It's an excellent CSS framework to work with.

http://960.gs