Screen size in Planetdance

[ABer]

Hi there - the following is an explanation of the current situation with coding for Planetdance to accommodate different screen specifications.

One of the challenges with writing code for PD is that there are a huge range of monitor specifications (pixel dimensions and screen ratios). It's not possible to code for them all. In my scripts I now focus on FHD (1920 x 1080 pixels, 16:9) and QHD (2560 x 1440 pixels, 16:9). FHD seems to be the most common monitor size now, and QHD is beginning to become mainstream. I test my scripts on both screen sizes and try to get the best fit on both. I am gradually changing all my scripts from fixed positioning (X, Y pixels) to proportional positioning using the dimensions of the screen. This gives better flexibility over a range of monitor specifications. However, to get an optimal experience on the current releases and updates of PD one needs to have a FHD monitor as standard.

I used to code for small laptop screens (1366 x 768 pixels, 16:9) but this screen is now so small that the more complex tabs/displays can't be accommodated on it without a significant amount of alteration to the underlying code. Since this specification is disappearing on all but the cheapest monitors and laptops I have had to forgo spending time on this.

The screenshot below shows the current state of play with monitor size (from https://gs.statcounter.com/screen-resolution-stats/desktop/worldwide).

You can see that 1366 x 768 is now beginning to decline as a % of overall monitor use and by far the most popular size is FHD making up 25% of all screens that PD users are likely to have. I can't see why most PD output wouldn't work reasonably well on 1600 x 900 pixels, especially where the positioning is designed to be proportional. Some of the output might overlap, but not nearly as much as with 1366 x 768 pixels.

All the best. Ed