Dori,
When elements opens an image, it sizes it so that it will fit on the screen. It may be small but you see it all. I know you’re on a MAC and I’m not sure of the steps, but if you go to the "view" menu tryout some of the settings to increase the size of your image. I don’t believe there is a setting you can permanently change.
Others will surely be along with other suggestions.
Dick
In this case, Windows and Mac versions are the same (as they are in most things about Elements.) Dick is right, and there are a number of options under the View menu, but one of my favorite keyboard shortcuts – and I use very few – is Command>+ (plus sign) or Command>- (minus sign) to quickly increase or decrease the view of an image.
When I read this, I also got a little bit concerned that you might be confusing the size you’re seeing on the monitor with the actual size of a document. They have absolutely no relation except by slim chance, so if you’d like further clarification, please feel free to let us know.
It seems I had my setting at 300dpi which gave me 16.7%. When I switched it back to 72dpi my new document showed at 66.7% as before. Yes, I am a bit confused as to the difference between monitor view and document size, and also what dpi I ought to be working in for non-photo designs.
Thanks again,
Dori
OK, Dori. I’m not the best person in the world to explain this, but I am the one looking at postings today, so here goes.
First, those views at "66.6%", "100%" have very little practical meaning, because they’re strongly influenced by the resolution at which a monitor is set as well as image resolution, which you’ve already figured out. Try not to pay any attention to them, and I think you’ll be happier! If an image opens too small, increase the size so you can see what you’re looking at. If it opens too big, decrease it. Just don’t ever make the mistake of thinking that if you have an 8X10 image open at 100% that you’re seeing exactly what you’d get on a piece of paper. If you do that’s only coincidence and would be pretty unreliable.
You also need to know that your images are measured in terms of ppi – pixels per inch, not dpi – dots per inch. The dpi term used to measure the number of dots of ink a printer put down per each square inch of an image. Today’s technology is much different, and most people still use the term to describe the quality at which a printer lays down ink, but it probably isn’t laying down dots anymore.
For an image that will be displayed on the internet or attached to an e-mail message there’s not much point in going above 72ppi. But even that’s not an absolute, because you can take an image whose resolution is 300ppi and still reduce it in size so it fits for display.
If you want to see how big a given image really is, use the Image>Resize>Image Size dialog box in Elements. It will tell you the physical dimensions and the resolution at which the image is currently displaying.
Sometimes it’s easier to explain these things if people post examples. If you have an image you’re trying to resize, let us know the current size, what you want to do with the image, and how big you want the image to be after resizing. Once you get a sample you’ll probably be able to understand this better.
