Introduction:
Your screen resolution is the number of pixels in the width and height of your screen (width x height). A higher resolution results in a sharper image, but things will appear much smaller. However, this does allow you to fit more on the screen at a time.

Having a high screen resolution (1024x768 is a good choice) gives you more "real estate" — your computer can display more of a program or a web page or more icons on your desktop. If you find your monitor "crowded" perhaps you should change your screen resolution.

When changing resolutions, you should consider the size of your monitor. On anything smaller than a 15" monitor (a 17" monitor, even), you may not want to go above 800x600. Images may appear to flicker because your monitor can't keep up with the resolution and still provide a sharp image. 1024x768 is quickly becoming the standard screen resolution, despite a large number of users remaining behind with 800x600. If you're still working in 640x480, you'll probably want to get to a larger resolution as soon as possible!

In addition to your screen resolution, you should also consider the number of colors to display, as well. There is really no reason why you shouldn't display as many colors as possible. "True Color" (either 24 or 32 bit) is your best option (these display millions of colors, around 17 million).

To change your screen resolution in Windows:
Start >> Settings >> Control Panel

Open up the "Display" control panel.

Click the "Settings" tab,

and look to the bottom right corner. The "Screen Area" slide-bar is where you can change your screen resolution. Directly to the left is the "Colors" selection area.

Adjust the slider to increase or decrease resolution, and then click "Apply." Windows will pop up an info and warning screen. Click "OK." The screen will go blank and then come back in the new resolution. Windows will ask if you want to keep the settings. Click "Yes." If you end up not liking the new resolution, you can change it back to the old setting at any time. When done, click "OK" to close the display properties window.

You may be asked if you would like to reboot after placing a change to your screen resolution; it is generally not necessary to do this (this can be changed in the "General" tab in the "Advanced" options).

Refresh Rate
If your screen looks very bright, and is just plain hard on the eyes, you may need to adjust your monitor's refresh rate (this is the speed at which the monitor "refreshes," or redraws, the image it shows you). Standard television refresh rate is 60 Hz. You'll want your computer monitor around at least 72 Hz.

To change the refresh rate, click the "Advanced" button in the "Settings" tab in the "Display" control panel.

Under the "Adapter" tab up top

at the bottom, you will see the "Refresh Rate" selection box (in Windows 2000, click the "List All Modes" button).

Conclusion
Screen resolution is important to consider when viewing (and also creating) web pages. If your screen resolution is smaller than the width of a web page, you will need to scroll to the left and right to view different parts of the page (which you may see all at once if you are in a larger resolution). Horizontal scrolling is looked down upon in the web design world, and should be avoided in any way possible.

Finally, when moving to a higher resolution (from 800x600 to 1024x768, for example) everything might seem "small." But try the higher resolution for an hour or so. When you go back to a lower resolution, everything will seem huge!