Posted: Thursday, August 2nd, 2012 at 9:55 pm. Filed in Features.
Tags: Apple, iPad, Retina, Retina Macbook Pro
A High Resolution Experience
There’s a new generation of devices really changing how we look at the web, Apple calls it Retina, others call it HiDPI (high dots per inch), but it’s been trickling its way up mostly through mobile phones and then in tablets with the iPad 3.
Basically the idea is that the pixels are so close together you can’t even see them, even if you put your nose right up to the screen. (Wipe off your screen now.) My mind was personally blown when I first saw the new Retina Macbook Pro — basically Apple took the clarity of the retina screen and brought it to full 15″ laptop (which also has amazing other specs) and the result is remarkable. So much so that it ruins you, like the first time you saw a HDTV and then had to look back at a regular one again.
The one disadvantage is that many apps, and most websites, don’t have high-resolution equivalents of all their graphics to take advantage of the new screen, so they get “doubled” and look fuzzy, they stand out like a sore thumb.
You may have noticed that we’ve been going bit by bit through the entire WordPress dashboard, the reader, and all of our sites updating them to take advantage of this new capability, often crafting new icons and graphics by hand. (Go by an Apple store and check out WordPress.com if you want to get a taste of it, but I warn you it’s hard to go back.)
But for you guys we can go a step further. All of your blog posts will now serve high-resolution images for users that can see them, at least the images that we host. Since we create all images dynamically on the fly, what we do is if you’ve uploaded a higher resolution photo and sized it down, we’ll serve a double-size so it looks super sharp to those visitors — they’ll think you’re ahead of the game.
We’ve also completely revamped Gravatar to be Retina-ready, and made it so that all Gravatars across WordPress.com are HiDPI as well.
Here’s how sharp things look on a HiDPI device compared to a regular display:
P.S. We just launched the same available for Jetpack users, our second simulaunch.
August 2nd, 2012 at 9:58 pm
This is beautiful. Thanks guys!
August 2nd, 2012 at 9:58 pm
That’s quite a nice difference!
August 2nd, 2012 at 10:13 pm
That’s absolutely great! Thanks a lot. You are faster than Apple with it’s own apps. Except the header image all bitmap images in my WordPress.com blogs look crisp sharp and Retina-ready right now (when I’ve uploaded them with length/width double-size before; btw it even works when the images are NOT hosted on the WordPress.com servers but simply referenced). Highly recommended for all blog authors!
And editor and dashboard are retinafyed as well! I am so excited on that so I wrote a little article on that topic (sorry it’s German-language but you’ll find some interesting hyperlinks):
http://retinamac.wordpress.com/2012/07/30/wordpress-com-unterstuetzt-retina-displays/
Keep up the good work! Hightech WordPress!
August 2nd, 2012 at 10:43 pm
cool, plus thanks for the tech lesson in your post
August 2nd, 2012 at 11:01 pm
Well done, the team!
August 2nd, 2012 at 11:25 pm
Oh, my gosh! I’d heard of retina resolution and wondered. The technology is beyond amazing. How great that WP is making this possible for us!
August 2nd, 2012 at 11:39 pm
Bravo! I’m truly pleased to see WP setting the same standards of excellence that brought me to switch to the Apple world several years back.
Thank you, Matt.
August 3rd, 2012 at 12:36 am
More reason I should break the bank and buy the MacBook pro with retina. Thanks WordPress.
Lol
August 3rd, 2012 at 12:53 am
And this is one of the reasons I chose WordPress over the others out there
August 3rd, 2012 at 1:03 am
Reblogged this on pravinchn.
August 3rd, 2012 at 1:08 am
This is really good! Thanks!
August 3rd, 2012 at 1:11 am
Reblogged this on ichwan83.
August 3rd, 2012 at 2:14 am
Can not wait for all websites to be hi-def.
August 3rd, 2012 at 2:17 am
I knew i loved my MacBook pro for many many many reasons and now MORE! thx
August 3rd, 2012 at 2:28 am
umm Eric Wareheim?? That’s great. Awesome Post, Great Job!
August 3rd, 2012 at 3:32 am
If you view the post on a retina display, it’s actually animated.
August 3rd, 2012 at 2:37 am
WordPress, you rock my world. This has got to be good for Apple stockholders, too
August 3rd, 2012 at 2:50 am
Call it WPHD.. haha
August 3rd, 2012 at 3:47 am
Its good news for all those viewers who really enjoy watching photography and nature clicks.
Wildlife and NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC WEBSITE WILL ALSO LOOK BRILLIANT IN APPLE’S retina MacBook PRO.
Well done wordpress.com you are going with technology.
Wish you BRILLIANT BLOGGING AHEAD.
August 3rd, 2012 at 3:47 am
Nice..
August 3rd, 2012 at 4:16 am
Nice move.
August 3rd, 2012 at 4:19 am
Thank you wordpress.
August 3rd, 2012 at 5:03 am
Interesting article, I received in my e-mail but visit the website to see better and a little step review content of this website, no doubt wordpress ever surprises me most with new and improved features.
August 3rd, 2012 at 5:05 am
This is fabulous, ”it just keeps getting better” !
August 3rd, 2012 at 5:21 am
Interesting move. Keep up:)
August 3rd, 2012 at 5:44 am
Oh, your pic on here looks nice and crisp.
Very clever animation!
August 3rd, 2012 at 6:39 am
This is pretty nuts. Think I’ll wait a bit before investing in an HD screen until more of the internet population rolls over, though. Good to see WP is on the ball as always.
August 3rd, 2012 at 6:50 am
waiting to see wordpress in retina display..great job…
August 3rd, 2012 at 6:58 am
Amazing, I love this, stupendous!
August 3rd, 2012 at 9:18 am
Excellent use of the word stupendous
August 3rd, 2012 at 7:33 am
Reblogged this on Noke In The Cloud.
August 3rd, 2012 at 8:15 am
Gnarly Dude!
August 3rd, 2012 at 8:36 am
Love HD, Hate den Apfel
August 3rd, 2012 at 8:37 am
Cool – I’ve got a MacAir, so I’m looking forward to this. Although my blogging experience is pretty good already.
August 3rd, 2012 at 8:53 am
I hope this sort of thing doesn’t slow it all down for users who live in areas that can’t get high speed connections?
August 3rd, 2012 at 9:00 am
Looking forward to seeing the difference on the tablet and the mobile devices. I dont like how the iOS on iPad has restricted functionality of wordpress.
Glad to see the higher display on the futuristic devices.
August 3rd, 2012 at 9:06 am
Did you look at your tags? Am i the only user to notice this Apple advertising? Your post could have been interesting if it was not a barely disguised ad for the apple (two links to apple’s website, “my mind was blown”, etc.). You have about 8M follower for this blog, I am wondering if Apple paid for this post, or if it is only a fanboy post!
Anyway, you could have avoided such a poor article to give us so real content about a good improvement!
August 3rd, 2012 at 7:51 pm
Just a fanboy post, I wish Apple paid me for these things.
August 4th, 2012 at 9:12 pm
That’s a good answer! +1 for you!
August 3rd, 2012 at 10:01 am
Matt – I love WordPress. The great values of common-source, but also just really, really good. I want to read the story now, properly, like in Moody’s Rebel Code or Eric Raymond’s ‘the cathedral and the bazaar”. WP: looks like a cathedral, works like the best bazaar! Off to look for the story now. — Carys
August 3rd, 2012 at 10:40 am
Awesome
August 3rd, 2012 at 11:03 am
Thanks. Have always loved WP. This does not make me love y’all more, but it is an example of why.
August 3rd, 2012 at 11:15 am
Thank you! As a proud new owner of a Retina 15 inch, I am delighted that you are doing this.
August 3rd, 2012 at 11:42 am
What’s a PC girl to do?
August 3rd, 2012 at 12:18 pm
Reblogged this on Seriozitate.
August 3rd, 2012 at 12:52 pm
That’s absolutely great! Thanks a lot. I love it but I want to slideshow on my header image can I do that? please write something .
August 3rd, 2012 at 1:22 pm
What happens if one zooms in on one of these images? Does one see pixels at all? If not, I wonder if my digital restoration work is doomed (or enhanced)?
August 3rd, 2012 at 7:48 pm
If you zoom eventually you will see a pixel.
August 3rd, 2012 at 1:39 pm
For my photoblog http://www.kaldirimlar.com I usually embed my photography from my flickr account. Does these images be also upscaled for the retina display? Or do you suggest any method for my posts?
Appreciate this work!
August 3rd, 2012 at 7:47 pm
We can’t do it with images we don’t host, so we can only upscale them if they’re uploaded to WP.com.
August 3rd, 2012 at 2:23 pm
WordPress is really the Best
August 3rd, 2012 at 2:38 pm
You guys are rock stars! Well done!
August 3rd, 2012 at 2:54 pm
This is an awesome update! It will do wonders especially for photobloggers like me.
August 3rd, 2012 at 3:06 pm
Thanks for sharing!
I’ve gone so far, as getting an android phone!
August 3rd, 2012 at 4:26 pm
Amazing Expression.!:)
August 3rd, 2012 at 4:37 pm
This is so cool! I’m trying to think of something profound to say, but I’m just speechless…wow!
August 3rd, 2012 at 4:53 pm
It’s good to keep up with progress, well done…
However…
It’s a shame that wordpress for iPad remains a very frustrating experience, a lot worse than WordPress for iPhone, the most irritating being that you still cannot access those blogs that you are following… When is that going to be updated?
August 3rd, 2012 at 5:17 pm
It’s going to be updated very soon.
August 3rd, 2012 at 6:34 pm
I would upload Retina-ready images on my own but not until free storage space is considerably increased to accommodate that.
August 3rd, 2012 at 6:54 pm
great job, got a feel more of a professional writer with retina, have to catch up with the beat
August 4th, 2012 at 1:05 am
Yes, i like WordPress . and i’m started posting my beautiful project and it gives a good result fast and realiable.
August 5th, 2012 at 4:38 pm
I like that WordPress is ahead of the game here, but what happens if I upload photos that are 72dpi and the exact pixel width as used by my theme? That doesn’t give you much to “upscale” then, or am I maybe missing something? Any suggestions?
August 6th, 2012 at 12:17 am
Correct, we wouldn’t have anything to upscale to.
August 6th, 2012 at 12:27 am
Thanks once more. Works really good. I have my both WP blogs pretty Retina-ready (at least the newest postings).
Only one thing is missing: The header image. I tried to upload it with double size of width and length (pixels), and the upload seemed to work, but the WP controls insist on “crop and publish”. So the only thing in my blogs being not retina remains the important header image.
Please tell us how to make the header image retina (without custom CSS). Thanks in advance!
August 8th, 2012 at 11:36 am
that’s why i love wordpress. keep rockin people!