This page is to help readers of Cydonia Quest have more control over how web pages on the internet are displayed on their computer screens using Microsoft Windows.

Changing Screen Resolution Settings.

Pages on Cydonia Quest are designed to be best viewed at a screen resolution setting of 800 x 600. Indeed most web pages on the internet seem to make best use of the computer screen at this resolution setting.

Unfortunately, most computers come out their boxes these days with the screen resolution settings already set to a higher resolution than 800 x 600 in order to suit computer games. Confusingly, a high resolution setting means that everything on the monitor is made smaller than it need be, and a lower resolution setting makes everything bigger and easier to see.

The following instructions are based on Windows '98, but the procedure should be similar for all versions of windows. (Isn't that so Mr.Gates?)

1) If possible print out a copy of these instructions before doing anything else.

2) Click the "START" button at the bottom, left hand side of your screen with the mouse.

3) A pop-up menu will appear. Move the mouse cursor over (or click on) the "SETTINGS" option.

4) Another menu will appear. Click on the "CONTROL PANEL" option.

5) A pop-up window of ikons will now appear. Double click on the "DISPLAY" ikon.

6) Yet another pop-up window will appear. There will be a row of tabs across the top of this window. Click on "SETTINGS".

7) When this tab is opened you will see two screen setting controls. One is for "COLOR" or "COLOUR" and the other will be a toggle control for "SCREEN AREA".

It is best to make a note of the current colour and screen area settings before changing anything as you may want to change things back later!

8) Check what screen area is currently being displayed next to the toggle control. If the setting is already showing 800 x 600 then you don't need to do anything. If some other screen area choice is being shown, then move the toggle control for "SCREEN AREA" with your mouse cursor to see whether 800 x 600 is an option available with your computer. If not, choose the option closest to it but higher than it. On some computers the only choice available is "LOW" or "HIGH". In which case choose "LOW" as this will be very close to 800 x 600.

9) If you haven't changed the setting for the screen resolution, then just click the "CANCEL" button and close down all the windows that were opened.

10) If you have decided to change the screen resolution, then click the "APPLY" button. A box will pop-up saying that your screen may flicker or go blank for a few seconds. Click on the "OK" button.

Note: If clicking "APPLY" brings up a box asking you whether you want to restart your computer this means that the colour settings for your monitor may have somehow been changed. If this happens you will need to go back to the "SETTINGS" tab to check things out and to return the colour to its old setting if it has been changed. There is no need to restart your computer.

11) Your screen resolution will now have been changed. Close all the windows that are still open. If you were using the internet when you changed screen resolution it may be possible that the browser screen has been "minimised" to a button at the bottom of the screen. Click on this button to restore the page you were viewing.

Trouble shooting. If you have changed your screen resolution whilst still on the internet you may find that the scroll bars have disappeared and that the text may be overflowing across the right hand side of the screen. This can be fixed by changing in and out of "FULL SCREEN" mode. Instructions for this are given after the next item.

Using the screen resolution to tackle web pages with overflowing text. Sometimes one encounters web pages on the internet where the text column is wider than your computer screen. This happens when a web page creator has programmed the text column to have a particular width, but has their own screen resolution set to a different setting than on your computer. If you really want to read such pages then temporarily increasing your own screen resolution sufficiently should fit the text width to your screen.

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Full Screen Viewing.

This is a way of seeing more of a web page at the same time whilst browsing the internet. This is useful when viewing a diagram or image with a length much greater than the depth of the normal browser display. The following instructions are for Microsoft's Internet Explorer, but there will be a similar procedure for all browsers.

1) On the top bar of the browser screen click "VIEW" A pop-up menu will appear.

2) Click on the "FULL SCREEN" option. That's it, you are now in full screen mode.

3) To return to the normal browser display when desired, click on the restore button at the top, right of the browser screen. The restore button has an ikon of two overlapping squares on it.

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Changing the size of text independently of the screen resolution.

Different people find some sizes of text display more comfortable to read than others. People with long-sight often prefer the text on screen to be small, whilst people with short-sight don't like their text too small. Internet browsers allow one to change the size at which text is displayed from the internet.

1) On the top bar of the browser screen click "VIEW" A pop-up menu will appear.

2) Move your mouse cursor over the "TEXT SIZE" option. A second menu will appear giving a choice of text sizes. Clicking on any of these text size options will change the size of the text being viewed over the internet.