Screen and text size

QED has finally decided that the twentieth century is in the past. Since about 1995, display monitor sizes and technology have pulled well away from the need to work in a screen-size of 800×600 pixels (px). In order to make room for our page layout, we must now assume that our readers have a minimum screen-width of 1000px (the lowest usual offering beyond that is 1024×768px). With the variety of screen shapes available today, you should also ensure that your screen is set with the correct aspect ratio, so that the text and pictures do not appear squashed or elongated: the latter is depressingly common amongst people who have 'traded up' to a wide-screen, and who waste the width by not setting a new screen-size.

We have settled on a standard text size which is generous for most people. However, if you need to use bigger text, it's a simple task to press Ctrl and + simultaneously to increase the size, and Ctrl and - simultaneously to decrease the size again. Remember, these are the plus and minus keys on the far right of your keyboard, not the ones normally found beside the zero on the top row of the QWERTY area. We have found that this works with all the common browsers, though Safari users should switch on the Zoom text only option from their View menu for the smoothest transformations.