In an official blog post, Microsoft has revealed that Windows 8.1 will feature DPI scaling improvements and a uniform experience across multiple monitor displays. Scaling issues have been a big concern as of late, with high-DPI tablets, notebooks, and external displays taking over the market these days.
“If you are running a screen resolution of 1366×768 on a tablet, chances are that UI will look good at 100% DPI settings. But what about when you connect that tablet to an external high resolution display? In Windows 8 you can choose either 100% to optimize the UI on the tablet display or up to 150% to optimize the UI on the external display. You have to compromise. Windows 8.1 takes care of this issue by supporting per-display DPI scaling. By default, Windows 8.1 will choose the optimum DPI scaling value for each display based on the value chosen for overall scaling in the control panel,” Microsoft stated in an official blog post.
With Windows 8.1, Microsoft has enhanced the DPI scaling to focus on optimizing the usability and readability of high-DPI displays. Windows 8.1 will also provide a uniform experience across multiple displays. Developers can now be empowered to create apps that are optimized based on display DPI.
With Windows 8.1, you can also utilize custom DPI-scaling. For example, if you were developing a photo editing app, you can scale the toolbars and chrome based on the optimal scaling value and have the image viewing area at the default 100% scale. “One example of an app that responds to DPI scaling in the Windows 8.1 Preview is IE11. IE11 uses the API to determine the optimal zoom level and adjusts it automatically,” Microsoft adds.
Hit the source link to see images of Windows 8.1’s DPI scaling features at work. Microsoft promises that if you are running a high resolution display or a multi-monitor setup, Windows 8.1 has some neat improvements for you to look forward to! Windows 8.1, currently in Preview, is expected to hit RTM in late August of this year.
