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With the Samsung Chromebook Plus and Pro, HP 1 G1, and the Pixel all being available with very high resolution screens, the ability to whip through different resolutions is a handy tool.
Additionally, 13 and 14-inch Chromebooks (Acer 14, Dell 13, Toshiba, etc.) with 1080p screens have two resolutions that scale very nicely.
What this basically accomplishes is making all UI elements (not just text or certain tab zooming) across the OS resize and stay crisp while they do so.
The high-res displays have more pixels to work with, thus they are more flexible across multiple sizes.
With the Samsung Chromebook Plus, for instance, I routinely work in 1300×900, not the 1200×800 that is standard. This gives slightly smaller icons and UI elements, but a bit more space for everything. At times I even knock it down to 1500×1000 and everything is still very workable.
Another helpful thing is this gives me the ability to see what site designs I’m working on look like on other screens like more standard 1080p and Macbook screens. Usually, though, I want to drop back to the stock 1200×800 resolution for tablet mode. Those big UI elements are great for fingers.
Same goes for the 1080p Chromebooks mentioned above. 1080p can feel a bit small with regard to UI elements across the board. Dropping to the 1536×864 resolution plumps things up and keeps it all sharp.
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Save Yourself Some Clicks
Regardless of how or when you need it, swapping screen scaling (or resolution) can be helpful. And there’s a quick, easy way to bounce around all those resolutions.
Simply press CTRL + SHIFT and then hit the + or – keys just to the right of the 0. The + key ‘zooms’ you in, giving you larger elements at a smaller resolution. The minus key goes the opposite way.
Don’t worry, you aren’t changing the resolution of your screen. Nothing can reorganize the actual pixels on your screen. This simply renders things AS IF your screen were that resolution.
Things like photos and videos bypass this, however, and your high-res images will look great, regardless of what ‘resolution’ you set your Chromebook to.
So, give this a try and see how quickly you can change your workspace for whatever is needed at the moment. It sure beats multiple clicks every time you feel like changing it up!
