Number of display colors

[Doug Nelson]

I feel almost silly posting this poll, but the recent interest in calibration and a similar question on usenet made me think this might be relevant.

[thomasgeorge]

I dont work that much with color so I dont know how much good if any a high setting is. My reasoning goes something like: The card I bought says 32 bit color, so since I paid for it, I,m going to use it. Not very scientific but very human. Tom

[chris h]

Ditto

1024 by 768

[DJ Dubovsky]

I brought up desktop properties box to check and it said 32 bit so I guess that's what it is.
DJ

[Ed_L]

Mine says 800 X 600 True Color 24 bit. I'm using a 17" monitor. Along those same lines, I was wondering (out of curiosity) what resolution everyone else is using.

Ed

[T Paul]

Mine is at 1024 x 768 resolution with 32 bit color, but I have a 19" monitor.

-T

[jeaniesa]

24-bit, 1024x768 on a 21" monitor (not mine - on homeloan from my husband's place of work). Don't know why I don't have it set at 32-bit. I think remember trying it once and it seemed that my video card wouldn't support it. Maybe I should try it again...
Jeanie

[thomasgeorge]

I use the 1024 x 768 resolution on a 17 inch monitor. Tom

[George]

I use 1024 x 768 resolution with 32 bit color on a 19" monitor.

George

[Doug Nelson]

Can anyone expand on the difference between 32bit and 24bit display? Same number of colors, what's the difference?

[Paul Rupp]

1024x768 32bit color.

When 32 bits are used, there are 8 bits for red, 8 bits for green, 8 bits for blue, and 8 bits left over that may be used as an alpha channel for transparency.

HTH

Paul Rupp

[Doug Nelson]

How is transparency relevant to a monitor that refreshes 75 times a second?

[Vikki]

This discussion prompted me to check my site stats to see what settings people are using. (The tracker can pick up most system colors used, unless it is an unknown browser type).
Over the past two months, and 1535 visitors, a surprising 31% are in 16 bit mode!
Top numbers are 49.9% at 32 bit, and 41.6% at 1024 x 768 (800 x 600 second) at 31%.
Interesting. I may put a "optimal" type of notice on my site now that I see the numbers.

[Doug Nelson]

OK, I've done a little research. 32-bit does, indeed, represent the added 8 bits of an alpha (transparency) channel. We almost never see this in use, but it is getting more prevalent. One good example is in Windows XP all the icons are 32bit. I've enjoyed some menu transparency effects in my Windows2000 setup without realizing that's a benefit of 32bit color.

The extra 8 bits don't seem to play a roll in photographs (since there'd never be any transparency there). They are also unneccessary for most web browsing (since transparent GIFs use a 1-bit scheme built into the file) unless the site is using 32bit PNG files, which are very, very rare.

[DJ Dubovsky]

I'm running XP. You mean all that for just some icons? Seems like a waste if there's not much noticable difference. So someone running on 24 bits and Windows XP wouldn't see any icons?
DJ