Window Clippings is now DPI Aware

Windows Vista changed the way that windows are rendered in large scale or custom DPI configurations. Since this is an opt-in change, applications need to specifically request the new behavior akin to the way applications need to explicitly request themed common controls. Those applications that are not DPI aware will effectively be stretched by the desktop window manager.

Anyway, Window Clippings is now DPI aware on Windows Vista. This means that it will correctly capture images of windows that are also DPI aware. It’s not quite perfect in that some apps that aren’t DPI aware aren’t yet captured correctly and I’m hoping to fix this in future but at least for those apps that have paid their software taxes so to speak Window Clippings will work just fine. Window Clippings continues to support custom DPI configurations on Windows XP as well as on Windows Vista when using the XP-style DPI scaling.

To get the latest build simply select “Check for Updates” from the Window Clippings context menu. If you are a new user simply download the latest version of Window Clippings 1.5.

If you happen to be using one of these applications that are not DPI aware and the application is being noticeably stretched, you can tell Windows to disable display scaling for the application. Here’s how: Find the application executable and open its property pages. Open the Compatibility tab and check the “Disable display scaling…” option. A good example of an app that is *not* DPI aware is Windows Live Messenger.

© 2007 Kenny Kerr 

4 Comments

  • > A good example of an app that is *not* DPI aware is Windows Live Messenger.

    Which annoys me to no end! MSN Messenger (the predecessor) was gorgeous in high DPI!!

  • Me again Kenny. :)

    Is there any chance the notification area icon could be made optional? Since we can do captures using Shift-PrntScrn (or whatever we've configured) the only use for the tray icon is to get to the configuration window or exit the program.

    I rarely do either so I'd rather run the program a second time, via the start menu, to get the configuration dialog, which could have an Exit option to quit the program.

    Just trying to clean up my notification area so there aren't things in there which I don't actually use. Unfortunately the "hide inactive icons" feature in Vista is as ridiculously flawed as it was in XP, still unable to tell which program is which properly and completely unreliable. Sigh!

    It's funny that Microsoft break their own rules about the notification area. Why on earth is the SideBar icon always there, for example?

  • Hurray! Great with high DPI support!
    If it only supported selection of MDI windows this tool would be really super...

  • Leo Davidson: thanks for the feedback. I’ve already started thinking about adding this feature (ability to create clipping directly from Start menu or shortcut). It would simply use different command line arguments, for example /clipping to create a window clipping or /options to display the Options window.

    Thomas Olsson: Glad you like it! I didn’t think of MDI child windows as they’re so uncommon these days but that’s a good idea.

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