Is the web ready for Retina Displays?

Posted by Tanya K

Tuesday, 19 June 2012 05:35

The mobile series of iDevices are no longer the only Apple platforms to feature the 4x scale Retina Displays, as the feature is now coming to Macbooks, Apple has announced. However, can the internet hope to offer an optimised browsing experience for those using the technology announced at WWDC?

Unfortunately, the web isn't at Retina Display readiness yet, and it's arguable that most of it won't be until screens with four times the resolution become the norm in web design. In fact, although some websites may make the effort to redesign themselves to appeal to those who value such an upgrade (Twitter and Amazon seem likely candidates), most of the web will likely remain without an upgrade for the foreseeable future.

So what are the benefits, really? Well, for those who use Apple software, it's a big boost to the appeal of their products, whether you want a Retina Display-optimised UI in Safari while you play partypoker, or for those who are going to enjoy apps and games that might make use of a larger resolution, although finding an Apple computer with the specs to run high-end games on max settings at that resolution may be impossible for quite some time.

But the web as is is not noticeably low-res - at least not until the Retina Display, or rather its inevitable equivalent, appears on a wide array of devices outside Apple. It does feel like a somewhat pointless acceleration, but perhaps that's best applied to the stage after it - after all, resolutions above the Retina display are not really going to showcase any improvements that can be appreciated by the human eye, are they? To a one-day higher-res web, but for now, Apple may find that people shelling out solely for a Retina Display upgrade aren't going to get much for their money, as far as the web's concerned.