Difference Between Scaled and "Best for Display"?

I got my first Mac - a MacBook Air. I noticed after a few days that the apps and text were too small to read. I turned out that "Scaled" was the selection in Built-in Display. When I selected "Best for Display," That enlarged things. But now I notice that things run off the side of the screen.

What caused the default setting to become so small? Better still, how can I get it back to normal.

Ken

I am being lazy - read the first couple of responses in this thread by 'Kurt' and 'eww'.

bobtomay said:

I am being lazy - read the first couple of responses in this thread by 'Kurt' and 'eww'.

Click to expand...

Thanks bobtomay. But those replies did not answer my question exactly. I was wondering if something caused things to become smaller. Perhaps too many things get put on the Dock, forcing the screen to accommodate more things or something like that? The thing that confuses me is that this change happened while the same setting - Scaled - was selected.

Any clues as to why this might be? And I am still not exactly clear on what the difference is between "scaled" and "best for display" means.

Thanks.

Ken

To answer your question:

Best for display means running the display or external monitor at its native resolution. In some cases with large displays like my 27" iMac, it's possible the images and writing may be smaller than desired. However, it's best for sharpness.

Here's what Apple says about scaled:

Display resolution determines the size of text and objects on your screen.

By default, the resolution on your display is set to show the sharpest text and the most detailed images. You can adjust (or scale) the resolution to make text and objects appear larger on your screen, or adjust it so you have more space on your screen. When you scale the resolution to provide more space, text and objects appear smaller.

Thanks chscag!

Ken

Here's a tip about the dock: Apple did not intend it to be a launcher for every app you might possibly use. It's meant to hold, let's say, your pick of the 10 *most* frequently-used apps (I guess a 27-inch iMac could hold a lot more) and a couple-three folders (if you don't regularly use one of pre-set apps in the dock, you can remove them -- they're still available in the Applications folder).

One of the folders you can put in the Dock is, and IMO should be, Applications (along with "Downloads" and perhaps one or two more that have your go-to documents/work/projects). If you drag the Applications folder to the Dock, and set it to display as a folder and sorted by name, you will have in addition to the "top 10 or so programs," one-click access to ALL the programs, in alphabetical order. Super-easy to find any program you might care to run, without unduly adding to the Dock so that it shrinks down into a hard-to-see strip.

Thanks Chas! that's awesome. I've pared down the number of apps on my dock. Quick question about adding the Applications folder to the dock though. I was able to get it onto the right side of the dock. Is there a way to get it on the left side with all the other apps? Or can you only add folders onto the right side?

Thanks.

You can only add folders to the right side of the Dock.

If you want, you could also look into Launchpad and set it to open with a hot corner. Go to System Preferences > Desktop & Screen Saver > Screen Saver > Hot Corners... > set one of the corners to open Launchpad. Now, when you put your mouse in the corner, Launchpad will open giving you a grid of all the applications on your machine.

Thanks Vansmith. That was pretty cool. Learning new tricks every day.

Ken