Re: The "resolution" media query is a misnomer IMHO

This is strange. Before Apple's introduction of Retina displays I can't
remember that many, if any at all, discussions about pixel density of
screens. Any while in the context of images it might refer to pixel
density, here this media query queries the pixel density of the screen.

Anyway, it is a misnomer to me, but I can live with it I guess.

Best regards,
Behrang Saeedzadeh


On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 1:39 PM, Tab Atkins Jr. <jackalmage@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Feb 4, 2014 at 6:11 PM, Behrang Saeedzadeh <behrangsa@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > Traditionally "resolution" has referred to the size of a display in
> pixels.
> >
> > For example WQHD is used to refer to a screen that its resolution is
> > 2560x1440 (see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_resolution),
> no
> > matter if it is 24", 27", or 31".
> >
> > In other words, traditionally, resolution did not take into account pixel
> > density of a screen.
> >
> > However in CSS media queries, "resolution" is actually referring to the
> > pixel density of the device, no matter what its resolution is.
> >
> > So, "resolution" in this context, looks like a misnomer and I believe it
> > should be deprecated in favor of a better name (e.g. "pixel-density").
>
> Note that the Wikipedia page you cite says that the use of
> "resolution" to refer to pixel dimensions is a misnomer, though a
> common one, and states that in other contexts it refers to the pixel
> density.  "Resolution" can also be stated as a flat number of pixels
> in some contexts, such as digital camera resolutions.  It's just an
> overloaded term that can refer to a couple of closely-related
> concepts.
>
> When used on images, "resolution" generally refers to the pixel density.
>
> I think the usage of "resolution" to refer to pixel density is
> sufficiently common to be understandable, and the other uses of
> resolution are either already achievable via other MQs (such as
> 'width' and 'height'), or aren't really meaningful.
>
> ~TJ
>