Multiple displays/multiple PCs

[Walt Crawford]

Roy T.'s suggestion is interesting--but I wonder whether it addresses the major
differences in color models between Mac and Windows PCs? (That is: pages look
significantly different on a Mac display vs. a Windows display, even if the
monitor used is identical.) I suspect that the Mac virtual-windows systems still
use the Mac color model, although Roy may know better.

With Windows 98, trying out different color depths and screen resolutions on a
single machine is reasonably trivial, even without adding a second display and a
dual-display graphics card. You just need to have the quickres (I may have the
name wrong) applet in your tray. (In Windows 95, you can do the same thing, but
you have to download Power Toys to get the functionality). (Damned if I know how
to do this stuff in Windows NT, which I use at work...you seem to trade off
flexibility for stability.) But that won't deal with the Mac color-model issues.
It's only 5% of the market, but it's a vocal 5%...

Or, as Roy suggests, if you already have a Mac, add a cheapo PC, either used or
a new baseline unit; $800 should do nicely--you can even get a first-tier
brand-name low-end unit for that much (e.g., Gateway's all-in-one Astro).

Of course, if your design is decent, the differences encountered at different
resolutions and color depths will pale in comparison to the differences in
browsers and browser configurations. Has anyone figured out just how little live
real estate is actually left on a 640x480 screen (with the toolbar set visible,
and maybe with a fixed ad area reducing real estate) using Navigator with all
its tool bars and location bars active? Is it even 240 vertical pixels?