Important Graphics Display Information for AOL Users

AOL's web browser doesn't automatically display photographic images at the best quality level possible. Here are some instructions for anyone using AOL who is encountering the "blurry" and "yellowed" photos in their web browsers.

Your AOL web browser may not be setup to display photos at the best quality possible. There are 2 reasons that this might be the case:

The first reason is that AOL gives you an option to view web graphics in either "Compressed" or "Uncompressed" mode. The "Uncompressed" graphics is the better setting. Here are the instructions for setting your AOL web browser to display graphics at the better quality level ("uncompressed"):

Instructions for AOL 3.0 users

In the AOL menu at the top of the screen, click on "Members"
Then click on "Preferences"Then click the "WWW" globe icon
Then make sure that the "Uncompressed Graphics" option is selected
Then click the "OK" button

Instructions for AOL s4.0 user

Click on "My AOL" in the AOL Toolbar at the top of the screen
Then click on "Preferences" Then click on "WWW" icon
Then click on the tab for "Web Graphics"
Then make sure that the "Use compressed graphics" box is NOT selected.
Then click the "OK" button

The second reason that your AOL web browser might be doing a poor job of displaying photos is that your PC may be setup to display at only "256 color" mode. The full version Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape will display photos clearly at the "256-color" setting, but AOL's web browser (a modified version of Microsoft Internet Explorer) will display photos with a "yellowish" and "blurry" quality in "256-color" mode. If your PC can display at a higher level than "256-color" mode, then you can improve your AOL web browser's image quality. Here's how to increase the color-mode level on your PC: Setting the color-setting for Windows 95:

Right-click on the Windows "Desktop" area. Click on "Properties"

Click the tab for "Settings"

You should now see the settings for "Color Palette" and "Desktop Area" Since there are many different types of graphics cards and monitors, I can not tell you what options are available to you under these 2 settings. If your "Color Palette" is set to 256 (8-bit) colors and you're given the option to increase it to a higher-level, this is where you would do that. The number of possible color-levels that you can choose from depends on how much "Graphics Memory" your computer has (1 or 2 or 4 or 8). Setting the color-setting for Windows 3.1:

If you are still using Windows 3.1, then you might be out of luck. If your computer did not come with a program that lets you switch your color-settings, then you will not likely be able to change your color-settings.