blurred fonts

[Carsten Haitzler (The Rasterman)]

On Wed, 30 Nov 2005 14:01:01 +0000 Ross Burton <ross at burtonini.com> babbled:

> On Tue, 2005-11-29 at 15:46 +0100, julius Junghans wrote:
> > found a formula on this site: 
> > http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Xorg_and_Fonts to calculate the 
> > widht/height from my tft (samsung x20)
> > 
> > ...E.g. to use a dpi of 75 with a resolution of 1600x1200, the 
> > calculation would be 25.4 * 1600 / 75 = 542 and 25.4 * 1200 / 75 = 406, 
> > resulting in the setting DisplaySize 542 406....
> 
> Erm, doesn't everyone else use a ruler if the screen size isn't
> detected, so that the DPI setting is correct?  Enforcing a specific DPI
> by faking the physical display size is the strangest thing I've ever
> heard...

not strange at all. ever since i can remember all the x displays i have used
seem to have DEFAULTED to 75dpi. back in the xfree86 3.x days, labtam xterms,
old sunos workstations etc. admittedly it may have just been badly configured -
but i had no root access and so i was stuck with "75dpi" almsot anywhere i
cared to look - unless it was my own pc linux box at home.

in more recent times they actually detect and have a REAL dpi. now here comes
the problem. if you have some apps that think they want to change their fonts
or drawing to always be "N inches high" they ask for font sized in DPI not
pixels... and frankly - with "bizarre" sizes (not a multiple of 75) as u have
(90 something 100something etc.) the fonts often look like complete arse as in
fact the app has a hardcoded font... that is only available as a bitmap font.
and frankly... they start using up more and more of my screen space.

i dont run 1600x1200 just to have fonts double in size so the display is
"smooth" because some fool thinks text needs to be N inches high. i want my
fonts N pixels high everywhere i go. that's my preference. if i run a stupidly
high res on a really small screen - that's my business and the fonts are the
physically small... but that's how i likes it. :)

seemingly unlike many around me in terms of users or developers, i actually
have better than 20/20 vision. even after having been using computers heavily
since i was 8 (22years now or so). i can read tiny fonts easily. i have always
used them, and love them. i prefer to get back my screen realestate and fit
more content on it. all of this is a personal thing - but forcing your display
to 75dpi is a way of making older software, that does bad things, to behave...
and display how it always did, and not suddenly start looking like poo :)

there is method in the madness... :)

-- 
------------- Codito, ergo sum - "I code, therefore I am" --------------
The Rasterman (Carsten Haitzler)    raster at rasterman.com
裸好多
Tokyo, Japan (東京 日本)