Window title bar and system icons too small at high dpi

Can you provide some screenshots of your 220dpi windows like Firefox? With a DPI at that setting, you may run into issues. Have you set the DPI to something smaller to see if the issue persists?

Firefox scales ok. So do most other programs. They seem to be aware of the actual dpi in use. Example - I have a 120 dpi monitor attached to my 220 dpi laptop and when I drag Firefox across from one screen to the other everything scales automatically as you'd expect.

It appears to be a problem with the skins. I have examined a few in SkinStudio to find out what is happening. There the width of the borders and the buttons are all specified in pixels. So a higher dpi = tiny buttons and too thin borders.

Trivially, changing the skin to have a format with extra width (doubled is probably sufficient) might work. But it would have to be tested by dragging from one screen to the next with different resolutions on each screen.

I'd like you to submit a ticket and copy paste your forum post to it.

https://esupport.stardock.com/index.php?/Tickets/Submit

I am also having this issue.  Windowblinds 8 does not seem to be high-DPI aware.  I have a Macbook Pro Retina and have Windows 8.1 Pro installed on it.  I tried to use Windowblinds but it is unusable - the titlebar is way to thin, the title text is cropped horizontally, window buttons are tiny, and so on.

Are you going to release a fix for this issue?

I thought I was the only one with this problem.  Running Win8 in desktop mode means the various controls -- title bars, buttons, scroll bars, etc. -- have to be resizable, for function.  I want to have a lot on my screen, but I need to be able to move stuff around -- especially in touch mode, where it's extremely difficult to pinpoint those tiny min/max/close buttons!

I'd like you all to go to the .exe of the application you're attempting to use, and right click it, select properties, then select the compatibility tab. On that page, select 'Disable display scaling on high DPI settings'. See if your applications are displayed to your liking afterwards. Please let me know if that worked for you.

Doesn't seem to make a difference.  If it's helpful, some applications have a larger, functional title bar, while most don't.  I'd post screenshots, but I don't see that functionality here.

I have a Dell Venue Pro 11 7130, Intel Core i5 150 GHz, 4 GB RAM, Win 8.1.

Look down where you type a reply, find the Tree Icon, click it and put in the information.   

Unfortunately it appears you're hotlinking from a site that does not allow photo sharing. I'd like you to send in a support ticket so we can take a look at your system settings and assist you further.

https://esupport.stardock.com/index.php?/Tickets/Submit

I am having the same problem.  Dell XPS 15 with a 3200x1800 display.

Same problem here as well. This will become a huge issue as more and more notebooks will ship with high dpi screens. On a large desktop monitor this is not an issue, but on my surface pro 3, I have no choice but to use DPI scaling to make applications usable. There really is no sense in putting in a support ticket when this is something only a software update can fix. That being said, I hope a fix is in the works.

Just FYI,

I just got a 28 inch 4K desktop monitor (AOC U2868PQU) and am having the same issue as these guys. I expected everything to be smaller simply because of the nature of fitting more pixels into the same amount of space, but when applying themes, the problem with the system icons (close/minimize/maximize, and window title bar) become so tiny as to be unusable. I practically have to get out a magnifying glass to see them!

On that same note, does anyone know how to make JUST those 3 buttons bigger (Close/Minimize/Maximize), without adjusting anything else in the system (on Win8.1)?

 Hi,

you have to increase the theme input bitmaps.

Here are the steps i would use:

Step 1:  search button and button frame + maximixed  on skinstudio and export it to a png file.

please read this here and als click on blue forwrd button site to read where to get the buttons : https://www.stardock.com/products/skinstudio/help/changing_titlebars_and_borders.htm

 Step 2: use  a good upscaling alogrithm program:

a) ImageResizer.exe image2d hawkynt google projects image2d

2xbrh or 3xbrlv4 from pixeljoint forums.

both do work better than nearest neighbur/bicubic or Lancsoz, ImageResizer.exe does offer a lot of algorithms (EPX3,Hqx,xbr are the ones that might interest you) , the other is a small cmd app.

Step 3: Downscale with nearest neighbour  or another bicubic algorithm ( often called none could be done with imageresizer too, to the size you want to use and export to png)

Step 4: reimport it in skinstudio

Step 5: increase the caption heigth (depending on the theme more difficult, use a simple image eitor and the programs above)

step 6: import them in skinstudio too

step 7: Enjoy

The Problem is that you have to increase the real image size , and that is not always a simple task.I did write you the link for the best upscalers i know, but sometimes you might to use adaptive blur on the images after that. Perhaps you may send me the theme you want to in a pm and your wanted caption heigth ( only if its a free theme )since it is indeed a task that can take up to  15 minutes (normally 2 for all  simple buttons)  ( or an hour if you don`t know how =)).

i hope i could help you. The dpi thing can only be solved in assuming that either existing skins do need to be upscaled with good algorithms or that the in applciation dpi size has to be changed ( both are not a simple task for stardock, so don`t expect soon updates from them. Try windows own cusomized dpi app scaling or change the theme/skin itself.). 

The same problem exists in the linux world too. They did now use a html/css  and svg based skinning method on both popular platforms gtk+ and qt. 

Decreasing monitor resolutions isn`t a solution here b.t.w

regards bluedxca93

You will ALWAYS have issues with seeing things when you push resolutions to 'silly' limits.  A 28" 4K sounds all well and good...but would you ever [in the past] have tried to...or even wanted to...run Full HD [1920] on a 14" monitor?

Because that's what you are doing.  Yes, the resolution [pixel] capacity might be there natively...but your eyes haven't changed....and yes...you WILL need a magnifying glass....just to catch up with the REAL limitations of human eyesight.

People are rushing out buying Super res 4K tellies...and yet nothing exists yet to take advantage of it.  It'll be quite a while before anything does, too.

Early-adopting is well and good...but there's such a thing as TOO early...;)

 hi

b.t.w: I did won a 46" Full HD some times ago and i exchanged it against money  . Why ? Because the screen is simply to big for me ! Also is there a point in regarding HD when all older Films and all youtube videos i can download  aren`t ?? 

But the real problem is that some laptops will also have / or already have that unecessary high resolution and already created themes can’t be upscaled  that easily )= . tried to tell him how to upscale his min max close icons so that he could at least try to work with it ... 

1366x768 is enough for a normal pc or laptop, or am i wrong??

regards bluedxca93