https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=372912 User probono@myrealbox.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=372912#c1 --- Comment #1 from Simon Peter 2008-03-21 06:57:53 MST --- Created an attachment (id=203397) --> (https://bugzilla.novell.com/attachment.cgi?id=203397) 1280x1024 Screenshot -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.

https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=372912 User mfabian@novell.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=372912#c3 Mike Fabian changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Status|NEW |NEEDINFO Info Provider| |probono@myrealbox.com --- Comment #3 from Mike Fabian 2008-03-25 15:11:39 MST --- Simon Peter> For a long time I thought this might be intentional, Most likely this is intentional. Simon Peter> but closer investigation reveals that fonts on a 1024x768 Simon Peter> screen are *larger* (=consist of more pixels on the Simon Peter> screen) than the same fonts on a 1280x1024 screen. The default font sizes are calculated in “point” which is a unit of length (like millimeters or inch). A 10 point font will use more pixels on a higher resolution display (higher resolution means more dpi, i.e. more dots per inch). If your 1024x768 screen had a higher resolution, the effect you observe would be perfectly normal. What resolutions do your screens have? I.e. what height and width measured in millimeters do they have? Is the variable DisplaySize in /etc/X11/xorg.conf set to the correct dimensions of your screens? For example, on my machine xorg.conf contains: Section "Monitor" Option "CalcAlgorithm" "XServerPool" DisplaySize 430 270 HorizSync 30-66 Identifier "Monitor[0]" ModelName "PHILIPS 200W" Option "DPMS" VendorName "PHILIPS" VertRefresh 30-61 UseModes "Modes[0]" EndSection and my monitor is really has a width of 430 millimeters and a height of 270 millimeters. My monitor has 1680x1050 pixels, with the above dimensions this gives a resolution of 98x98 dpi and a 10 point font will thus use 98/72 * 10 = 13.6 pixels vertical. Please check these calculations for your screens. → NEEDINFO. -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.

https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=372912 User mfabian@novell.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=372912#c5 --- Comment #5 from Mike Fabian 2008-03-27 07:18:58 MST --- Simon Peter> So if I understand you correctly, two 1024x768 screens Simon Peter> with different physical sizes (in millimeters) are Simon Peter> expected to produce differently sized fonts (in pixels). Yes. Different sized in pixels but the same should be the same in millimiters. Simon Peter> * Most people would expect a 12pt font to look identical Simon Peter> in terms of pixels on any screen, *unless* they specify Simon Peter> manually to use a different resolution. I think the majority expects a 12pt font to be a reasonable, readable size and not that it becomes unreadably small on high resolution displays. Today some notebooks have 120 dpi displays. If you would use the same number of pixels there as on a big 1024x768 TFT screen, the fonts on the notebook would be tiny and unreadable. Simon Peter> * This is especially true for screen designers and for Simon Peter> people giving on-screen presentations (or screencasts, or Simon Peter> whatever you can think of). I don’t think so. Most fonts used today are not bitmap fonts anymore but scalable fonts and are rendered using anti-aliasing. You don’t need to care how many pixels are used as long as there are "enough" pixels used to render the font readable. The physical size of the font is more important. Simon Peter> * As far as I know, this is openSUSE specific. I never Simon Peter> experienced the fonts on these 2 computers to look Simon Peter> different using e.g., Ubuntu No, it is not. Simon Peter> * Other OSes, too, do not assume different screen Simon Peter> resolutions for the rendering of fonts. For example, Simon Peter> Windows has a "high resolution" mode too that can be used Simon Peter> to render fonts larger, but it has to be enabled Simon Peter> manually. Of course you could "lie" about your resolution and assume a resolution of, say, 96 dpi *always*. No matter wether that is true for your screen or not. Then, the fonts would always use the same number of pixels at 12pt, but they would *not* be really 12pt high (pt = point is a length unit like millimeters). This would defeat the whole point of measuring font sizes in pt you could just as well measure in pixels then. Measuring in point is fine if the resolution of the display is "high enough" so that enough pixels are available to render the font reasonably well. For 12pt I think fonts can be rendered reasonably well if the resolution is at least 75 dpi. This is true for almost every monitor, except maybe LCD TV screens which may be huge but nevertheless have very few pixels leading to resolutions of less than 40 dpi (See for example bug #373090). Simon Peter> Knowing about the story behind the calculation of screen Simon Peter> fonts, I now think this could have been avoided if Simon Peter> openSUSE always assumed a constand screen dpi resolution, Simon Peter> in line with the other distros. I.e. you want to use a wrong dpi resolution, i.e. using 96dpi always, no matter whether it is true for the screen. That completely defeats the point of measuring fonts in pt at all. If you really want to do that, set 96dpi yourself. You can do that by editing the the DisplaySize variable in /etc/X11/xorg.conf (see comment #3). I don’t think this is a good idea though, it will result in unreadably small fonts on high resolution screens. Simon Peter> For the record, my two screens have the following properties: Simon Peter> * 1024x768: 247x185 mm 105 dpi. Simon Peter> * 1280x1024: 335x270 mm 97 dpi. Therefore, your default fonts on the 1024x768 display use some more pixels to end up with the same physical size in millimiters. Assuming that the viewing to both screens is about the same, this is the reasonable thing to do. -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.

https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=372912 User probono@myrealbox.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=372912#c7 --- Comment #7 from Simon Peter 2008-04-04 15:50:55 MST --- Simon Peter> * As far as I know, this is openSUSE specific. I never Simon Peter> experienced the fonts on these 2 computers to look Simon Peter> different using e.g., Ubuntu Mike Fabian> No, it is not. I have just tested this again. Both Fedora and Ubuntu produce exactly the same-sized fonts in terms of pixels on the two specific screens described above. So for me it is clearly an openSUSE specific b.., well, behavior. Probably "WONTFIX" would be appropriate in this situation? -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.

https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=372912 User probono@myrealbox.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=372912#c9 --- Comment #9 from Simon Peter 2008-05-30 07:09:47 MDT --- "If you want your two systems to match in spite of actual DPI differences, you can force DPI up or down on one of them to match the other" -> Is there an easily accessible GUI setting for this? (Despite its name, "Monitor Resolution Settings" in the control panel does NOT allow me to change the resolution in terms of DPI.) -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.