Fonts and DPI question

dizzysaurus · n00b Joined: 31 Jul 2003 Posts: 38 Location: MI, US

Hi,

Quick question(s): What dictates the size of a font on screen? Should a 12 point font look the same size whether the screen is rendering at 124dpi or 99dpi?

I'm asking this because I have a laptop that connects to a docking station. Attached to the docking station is a 20inch flat panel display that is 99dpi @ 1600x1200. My laptop display is 124dpi @ 1400x1050. I've set up XF86Config's monitor section's "DisplaySize" parameters correctly (as DDC probing gives incorrect values) for each config and change between them as appropriate.

xdpyinfo shows the correct DPI for each screen, yet GNOME's font configurator always stays at 96dpi - if I try to change it to 124dpi (on my laptop) the font get HUGE!

I'm using fontconfig/freetype not xfs, but either font subsystem doesn't seem to make a difference.

I've looked on Google but I couldn't find a good explanation of how screen resolutions, DPI and point size interact.

Anyone got any pointers?

Epyon · l33t Joined: 11 Sep 2003 Posts: 754 Location: NJ, USA

Gnome programs ignore the dpi info from the x server as far as I know. They use whatever dpi is set in the font config app.

The font should look a lot bigger at 124dpi than at 99dpi.

dizzysaurus · n00b Joined: 31 Jul 2003 Posts: 38 Location: MI, US

wrong place to vent, I know. BUT.

Why should a point be anything other than 1/72 of an inch? If a point on a screen were what it was on paper, then my 12 point text would be the same height irregardless of resolution. Stupid computers! ;-)

Thanks for your answer, Epyon!