Adobe photoshop elements User Manual

CHAPTER 2

certain radius, set at a specific location, and filled 
with a specific color. You can move, resize, or 
change the color of the tire without losing the 
quality of the graphic. 

Vector graphics are resolution-independent—
that is, they can be scaled to any size and printed 
at any resolution without losing detail or clarity. 
As a result, vector graphics are the best choice for 
representing bold graphics that must retain crisp 
lines when scaled to various sizes—for example, 
logos.

Because computer monitors represent images by 
displaying them on a grid, both vector and bitmap 
data is displayed as pixels on-screen.

In order to produce high-quality images, it is 
important to understand how the pixel data of 
images is measured and displayed.

The number of pixels along 

the height and width of a bitmap image. The 
display size of an image on-screen is determined 
by the pixel dimensions of the image plus the size 
and setting of the monitor. 

For example, a 15-inch monitor typically 
displays 800 pixels horizontally and 600 vertically. 
An image with dimensions of 800 pixels by 
600 pixels would fill this small screen. On a larger 
monitor with an 800-by-600-pixel setting, the 
same image (with 800-by-600-pixel dimensions) 
would still fill the screen, but each pixel would 
appear larger. Changing the setting of this larger 
monitor to 1024-by-768 pixels would display 
the image at a smaller size, occupying only part of 
the screen.

When preparing an image for online display 
(for example, a Web page that will be viewed on a 
variety of monitors), pixel dimensions become 
especially important. Because your image may be 
viewed on a 15-inch monitor, you may want to 
limit the size of your image to less than 800-by-600 
pixels to allow room for the Web browser window 
controls.