Re: DPI, font size, and Debian

[Billy Biggs <vektor@dumbterm.net>]

Mike Hommey (mh@glandium.org):

> > It's a good idea (I would be in support of this for sure).  However,
> > my experience supporting users on IRC is that it is rare that X gets
> > this far.  Usually DDC provides some values, and X will end up
> > calculating anything between 80 and 133 DPI.  If we're talking about
> > patches for the X server, I would like to see it default to 96 DPI,
> > and not use DDC unless explicitly requested in the config file.
> 
> Well, if the user gets something 80 and 133, i would say they probably
> got the right value. So what is wrong ? Probably the user not being
> accustomed to the fact that the dpi setting actually works.

  Hi Mike,

  I think I've made a pretty strong argument about why using the real
DPI for fonts is not a good idea.  In summary:

  - Font hints are not designed for small pixel sizes at arbitrary
    DPIs.  I have shown this via screenshots which I posted.
  - GNOME defaults to a 10 point font for the application font.  My
    experience dictates that users find this too small on their
    autodetected 80-DPI screens, and too large at their autodetected
    133-DPI screens.
  - Other operating systems do not use the real DPI of the display, and
    there does not seem to be a strong movement towards having this
    changed.

  I can continue to try to back up my claims, however I think that at
this point it should be up to you to provide supporting evidence.

  -Billy