This is part of The Pile, a partial archive of some open source mailing lists and newsgroups.
To: open-source-programmer@yahoogroups.com From: aludal <aludal@softhome.net> Subject: Re: [open-source-programmer] fwd: "Why Python?", an Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 21:09:17 -0700 Joe Brenner wrote: > "GG" <gg@burningman.com> wrote: > > "Joe Brenner" <doom@kzsu.stanford.edu> wrote: > > > "GG" <gg@burningman.com> wrote: > > > > "Joe Brenner" <doom@kzsu.stanford.edu> wrote: > > > >> But the font sizes on the whole site seem pretty small > > > >> to me. > > > > > > > > We've tried to duplicate what you are seeing with Netscape > > > > 4.78 running on Linux [...] > > > > > > > > Will you please send me a screen shot of what you are > > > > seeing? > > > > > > Yes. Thanks much for looking into this. I think I see why > > > you might have trouble duplicating it. I see the problem on > > > my machine at home (with a small monitor) but not on my > > > machine at work. > > > > > > I put two screenshots out on a web site for you: > > > > > > http://www.grin.net/~mirthles/data/burning_netscape_4.7x_13_inch.jpg > > > > > > Taken on a RedHat 6.1 Linux box, > > > with a 13" diagonal monitor > > > Netscape 4.72. Font size setting of 18.0. > > > > > > http://www.grin.net/~mirthles/data/burning_netscape_4.7x_20_inch.jpg > > > > > > Taken on a RedHat 7.2 Linux box, > > > with a 20" diagonal monitor > > > Netscape 4.78, Font size setting of 14.0. > > > > > > You could argue that the real trouble here is something > > > screwy about the default X windows resolution, but > > > my real complaint is that setting the font size to "18" (or > > > even cranking it to "24" does nothing to change the size of > > > the displayed font, because you've specified an absolute > > > size. My 2 kopecks (if I may): X Window/xfs/Freetype/Freetype2 and gtk/Gnome/Qt2/Qt3/KDE2/KDE3 seem to me like two quite opposite approaches in rendering 'absolute' font sizes. Like a classic problem of which side of an egg to start with: a dumb one, or a even dumber one. A while ago, after upgrading my RHL 7.2 box with a Matrox G400Max and HP 21" P1110 monitor, I solved it for my resolution of 2048x1536 (equals roughly to 131 dpi) by engaging from a dumb side first: adding this line into the Section "Monitor" of my X 4.2.0 XF86Config-4 file: [...] DisplaySize 400 300 [...] (where numerics are horizontal and vertical sizes of my visible raster) Only this command (or its equivalent in a starting X script, like '....X -131 dpi', or something) is capable to teach X font server something about a real screen resolution, instead of its extremely dumb default 75 dpi. Now it's time to try from the even dumber side: I cleaned out all traces of incorrigible Netcape 4.xx, installed Mozilla 0.9.9 and Netscape 6.2 instead, one of which has a GIMP-like font size calibrating tool. When your reading of "System" resolution practically coincides with what Netscape measure gives you, you're moving on the right lane, at last. It still doesn't mean the steps of size decrease/increase will be right, or just bearable: neither Netscape 6.2, nor Konqueror 3.0.5cvs/Opera 6.0 Beta 1 were capable of scaling fonts moderately. Well, it's what I called the dumber side: gtk/Qt/KDE developers still wink at the X/xfs developers, and meanwhile Qt3.0.4/KDE3.0.5 antialiasing continues to change the visible font size more than a halfpoint, and there absolute mess with non-Latins, and CJK scaling, even at their base sizes. ===