You can't have your cake and eat it too.

[IT Grunt]

This one happened a couple hours ago, and I'm still pissed.

The backstory. A while back we replaced all of the computers at the various machine centers on the plant floor with newer, faster units and LCD flat panel monitors. Each monitor was a 20" wide screen, which from Dell at the time was cheaper than 20" standard screens. (Oh hail the almighty dollar. $$$)Naturally, this meant that the screen resolution was going to be set high, at 1600x1050 for these particular models, in order for the display to be crisp. It's worth noting that even with the standard screens, the standard res is 1280x1024. Not much different, just wider for the most part, but still icons and such are going to be small.

The old farts who run some of these machines began complaining, bitching they couldn't see it with their aging eyes, but once they realized there was nothing to be done, they shut up about it. Not this guy. So, we come to yesterday. I installed a printer on this one PC, which has /zilch/ to do with changing the screen resolution. The screen res had been set by someone to 1024x768, which of course made everything on the screen screwed up and distorted, /including/ the terminal program they use to connect to the manufacturing system. So, after I logged the system back in for him, /now/ he notices that the text on the terminal screen is fuzzy. Like it has been all this time, he just got used to it. Can I make it sharper? Sure. So I reset the resolution to 1600x1050, where it was when I first deployed it. Well, gosh darn, now Internet Explorer has small text. Duh. Thus the title of this posting, you can't have your cake and eat it too.

Come to today. I had to gather some information off that printer, and when I get down there, the foreman is there with this guy trying to increase the text size in Internet Explorer. Naturally, with the res set high, that isn't going to so much, and I attempted, very calmly, that you can't have it both ways. He starts in about how I'm wrong, it was clear before I installed the printer. (This is what I hate... you do anything to a PC, then anything that happens, even if you didn't bother that portion of it, is your fault.) I go on explaining in step by step, laymans terms details that changing the text size in Internet Explorer is not the same as the resolution. If the resolution is set low, IE will be big, but then the text in the terminal screen is going to be distorted because the monitor was not designed for that resolution. Bullshit, he says, he works with it every day, it was fine before I installed the printer. I told him flat out, it was the same as it always was, you've gotten used to it and just now noticed it. So he now claims I'm full of shit, I'm calling him stupid. I counter, (yes I said this), "Who's the PC expert here?" He states he doesn't care, he knows he's right. He goes so far as to ask the foreman to call the level 1 helpdesk to get someone to do what he wants because I'm refusing to do my job (implied I'm refusing to pull the solution out of my ass), I'm a stupid idiot and do not know what I'm talking about. The decibels in this room were reaching rock band level, mark my words.

So, the foreman steps in as mediator (he also understands what I'm saying, knows I'm right, and tries to defuse this as best he can, because this guy isn't listening.) He says let's put it back the way it was. So I reset the resolution back to 1024x768, which makes everything distorted once again. We bring up the terminal screen, and... GASP! It's fuzzy! Imagine that! The guy now knows he's been proven wrong, looks at it, and just says, "Ok.. I'll live with it."

WHY IN THE HELL DIDN'T YOU SAY THAT THE FIRST TIME!?!?!?! WE COULD HAVE AVOIDED THIS WHOLE LOAD OF SHIT IN THE FIRST PLACE!!! was ringing through my head at that moment.

As order was restored, and as I walked out with the foreman, he just chuckled and said, "I know you were right, but he was never going to listen. That's why I just wanted to prove him wrong. I deal with shit like this from them all day."

It helped a little to have someone on my side in this, but damn, if you know nothing about computers, have claimed publicly you know nothing about computers, then don't start claiming you do! I knew that if I reset it back the way it was, it would be fuzzy again, and he'd start complaining about that again, and I know he wanted it both ways. Damned Catch 22.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I had a similar problem with the LCD monitors they gave us at work. The native resolution
of the monitor was 1600x1200, which made the text too small and difficult for me to read. Dropping the resolution to half, 800x600, while sharp and crisp, made it way too big, so I put it at 1024x768. The text was distorted because of the pixel limitations (but not as distorted in the OP's case). I learned to live with it, and didn't complain about it. When I got an LCD monitor for home, I made sure the native resolution was one I could see OK.

[Geek King]

Yup. 800x600 then fiddle with the accessability options if they still complain. I'm sorry, but if you can't see the screen correctly at native resolution for the monitor, then you probably don't have the proper prescription for your eyeglasses. We have one lady who is so vision impaired that the job center supplied her with some software that enlarges the screen based on where you move the mouse and even reads text to her. But that's an extreme case, and she's probably legally blind, though I've never asked.

[earl colby pottinger]

Question?

I have been out of the business of software support for years I only do hardware), and I run BeOS so I don't know the latest features of IE either.

Are you saying that after all this time you still have no control over the default font-type and font-size in IE today? I had that type of control in NetPostive for BeOS ten years ago!

And I just checked my about:config in FireFox using 'font' in the filter field and it looks like I have all sorts of control on the fonts there too. Does your software require IE?

[IT Grunt]

Are you saying that after all this time you still have no control over the default font-type and font-size in IE today?

You can change the text size in IE's menu, ranging from 'smallest' to 'largest', but with the screen resolution set to where the monitor is designed to run, 'largest' doesn't do much to get it to the size it would be with the monitor resolution set 1024x768, which on that widescreen LCD looks stretched, fuzzy and distorted.

However, at the correct resoltion, the terminal emulator, which connects to a VMS system, looks perfect. The particular screen in question is a 132 character screen to begin with, which looks small anyway.

At the less than optimal resolution, the text is fuzzy because the system is stretching it to fit the monitor. The best analogy (which I used on him) is that it's like watching regular broadcast TV on a widescreen TV. It's stretched to fit the screen, so it looks a little fuzzy, and distorted because the dimensions are off. Change the TV to display it with sidebars, it looks clear because now it's displayed at the ratio it's intended to be displayed at.

That is what this guy couldn't understand. You could either have large (albeit fuzzy) text in IE that was big enough to read, but the text in the terminal emulator would be fuzzy (changing fonts here wouldn't do much, it's still a 132 character screen and thus compressed when displayed). Or, you could have clear text in the terminal emulator, and clear, albeit very small, text in IE. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. It's not a matter of font size, it's the screen resolution. Also, IE is the company standard, they won't allow Firefox or other such browsers.

If he'd just accepted the fact that it was fuzzy to begin with, and he'd just now noticed it, things would have remained the same and nothing would have been said. Instead, he chose to be an asshole about it, and connected the dots in his mind to say that installing a printer = making the screen fuzzy.

[Andara Bledin]

Um, if you're running Windows, you can totally change all of the size settings through the OS.

When I got my latest monitor (20" widescreen, 1680 x 1050 resolution) I went through and scaled all of my display fonts up from 10 to 12 so that it wasn't all impossibly tiny.

So, just because your resolution may be very high, the icons and text don't have to be microscopic.

Also, adjusting the font size in both Firefox and IE is just a matter of holding Control and using the mouse wheel. Of course, Ff and IE use different directions, but it still works for both.

^-.-^

[CorDarei]

...
Also, adjusting the font size in both Firefox and IE is just a matter of holding Control and using the mouse wheel. Of course, Ff and IE use different directions, but it still works for both....

That's what i was going to say. You can get the font pretty large by using cntrl+mouse scroll.

[LifeCarnie]

And I just checked my about:config in FireFox using 'font' in the filter field and it looks like I have all sorts of control on the fonts there too. Does your software require IE?

God I wish the IT guys at work would let us download FireFox.

IE is still a piece of crap browser.

Unless you like your browser to crash at every turn.

[froglet]

Also, adjusting the font size in both Firefox and IE is just a matter of holding Control and using the mouse wheel. Of course, Ff and IE use different directions, but it still works for both.

^-.-^

Also, in FireFox, ctrl and + and - enlarges and reduces, while ctrl 0 resets.
But Firefox also lets you change default font size, IE just lets you change default font type.
It doesn't always help though, some web pages have a strict size and font built in that wont change with font options. Would have to change OS settings.

Note: was testing with IE6, not sure about IE7 just yet.

[CorDarei]

Unless you like your browser to crash at every turn.

see, that sounds just like a mac lover to me. "MAC is better than PC!!!"

I run IE every day and haven't had a crash in a while (can't remember the last one)

[LifeCarnie]

see, that sounds just like a mac lover to me. "MAC is better than PC!!!"

I run IE every day and haven't had a crash in a while (can't remember the last one)

I don't mean to be an elitist, but I use both regularily, since FF is on my computer at home and IE is my work browser. Since the last time I lost a FF session due to a crash, IE has crashed easily 40-50 times.

Maybe it's our firewall, but Java Script and Flash give IE fits.

[IT Grunt]

I've done that before, but these guys are not computer literate and telling them to do something like that is a license to have them set it way too large or way too small then complain they can't get it back, putting me right back at square one. So yes, I know you can adjust it that way, but it would not satisfy this guy. On top of that, more than one person uses this PC so now you're getting into 'It's too big for me' and 'It's too small for me', etc, etc.

Besides, that's not the point of the rant. The point is, I did nothing to change the resolution or how the screen looked when I installed the printer. Then he notices the screen is fuzzy after I've installed it, so he asked me to change it. I did. Then he complains I fucked it up even more, despite the fact that changing it back would put it back the way it was when he first asked me to fix it, and he wouldn't accept that, claiming 'I work with it every day, I know it wasn't fuzzy!' If he hadn't been an asshole about it from the start, things would have been different.

This guy is also one who likes to bitch about anything. One of the guards used to work for the cleaning company that cleaned a lot of the plant, and this guy called in their supervisors once because he found one single ink pen laying behind the bench in the shower room, claiming that the cleaning crew was not cleaning the shower room whatsoever. Neglecting the fact that they clean on night shift, he works days, thus that pen could have fallen there anytime during the shift change. That gives you an idea of the personality I was dealing with.

Let me add another tidbit. This system was deployed at the correct resolution when I installed it four months ago. No complaints. Somewhere during that time, someone changed it to the lower setting. Again, no complaints. Then, I install a printer. Suddenly, everything is different. Does that help put it in perspective?

[Velfarre2001]

Kinda off topic, but I HATE that saying. It makes no sense.

Seriously, what is the point of having your cake if you can't eat it?

[Broomjockey]

Kinda off topic, but I HATE that saying. It makes no sense.

Seriously, what is the point of having your cake if you can't eat it?

It's an old saying which has been slightly corrupted. The original (and much more sensical) saying is "eat your cake and have it too." Either way, it means that you want what you want, even when your wishes are contradictory. In the saying's example, you want to eat the cake, but you want to still possess it, even though once you've eaten it, it's gone. A more modern example would be something like you want a high-powered position in a company, but you also want an easy time at work.

[earl colby pottinger]

Trust me

The point is, I did nothing to change the resolution or how the screen looked when I installed the printer. Then he notices the screen is fuzzy after I've installed it, so he asked me to change it. I did. Then he complains I fucked it up even more, despite the fact that changing it back would put it back the way it was when he first asked me to fix it, and he wouldn't accept that, claiming 'I work with it every day, I know it wasn't fuzzy!' If he hadn't been an asshole about it from the start, things would have been different.

I feel your pain on both levels.

1) "You were in the same room so it must be your fault", I even had a user claim I messed up their photocopier when I spend the entire time on laser printer on the other side of the room. And just forget about them saying "sorry" or "I was wrong" if you show the problem was their fault from day one. (pagers at the back of a drawer anyone?)

2)"It was never like that", I don't know what happens to these people's memory but if the display is working/testing ok and it only has 5 display modes period, you claims about it working diffirently than all the modes possible. Just not possible!