How to Fix Appearance on HiDPI Screens

Some user interfaces for iSpring desktop authoring tool are made using Flash technology. For example, the QuizMaker editing window:

There is no difference in visual appearance between the standard Windows interface on the top ribbon and the Flash user interface below if you don’t change Windows display global scaling options.

Problem

Users with HiDPI screens (high resolution, high pixel density) may experience appearance issues with iSpring products if the scaling level is set higher than 100% in Windows Display settings.

As a result, you will see all texts and icons magnified up to 2 times on the ribbon, leaving the unscaled Flash user interface elements hard to read.

It happens because Windows doesn’t apply system scaling options to Flash interfaces.

Resolution

As a temporary workaround for this issue you can:

1. Use the Win+R shortcut and type dpiscaling to open the Display properties.
   

2. Set the scaling level back to 100%.
   

3. And downscale the resolution (Win+R: desk.cpl to open Screen Resolution).
   

After that, the text might appear a little blurry because it’s not a natural resolution for your display, but all interfaces will look clear.

Compatibility option for HiDPI

If you don’t want to downscale the resolution or if you use multiple displays with different pixel density, you can also run iSpring products in the compatibility mode that disables display scaling for this particular application.

1. Find the shortcut for iSpring QuizMaker or another product you want to apply this setting for. The default path to the shortcut is C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\iSpring QuizMaker 8

2. Right click on the iSpring QuizMaker 8 icon and select Properties.
   

3. Select the Compatibility tab and check the option Disable display scaling on high DPI settings. Then click OK.
   

After that, if you launch QuizMaker using this shortcut, it will appear correctly.

Apple users

HiDPI displays are called Retina displays (Hi-Res) on Apple computers. For those who installed Windows as a secondary system or use Parallels or VMware.

For those who use Parallels and experience this issue, see the resolution on their help pages:

• Parallels KB: Windows-based programs resolution issues on Apple Retina display

• Parallels KB: Virtual Machine display resolution issues on Macs with Retina display

When will iSpring fix this issue?

We will get rid of all Flash interfaces by the end of 2017 in the next 9th version. It means that global scaling Windows options will correctly scale all iSpring icons and texts.

List of products with Flash interfaces

• iSpring QuizMaker

• iSpring Visuals

• iSpring Suite: Web Object insertion, Flash preview when publishing to Flash

Output format

When we say user interface we mean the editing window. The published Flash or HTML5 course that you open in your browser is a different thing, don’t mix them up.

If you select Flash output and publish, as shown on the picture below,

You will get the Flash course. It’s easy to check if it’s Flash or not by right-clicking on the content. You should see the Flash menu where it also says which version of the Adobe Flash Player you have installed.

Learn more about iSpring publishing options →