LQ Font Sizing (12.1/FF 2.0.0.14)

llin · 06-16-2008, 11:33 PM

Hi All,

LQ is one of the few sites that renders in a larger than normal size. Reducing the font size two steps in FF brings it more in line with what I'm seeing in FF on W2K.

Followed the Beautiful Font Guide (no posts = no link, sorry) and Dugan Chen's post-install guide and have the MS core fonts installed.

Daedra · 06-16-2008, 11:47 PM

Can you post a screenshot? Also are you using a LCD or a CRT?

llin · 06-16-2008, 11:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daedra

Can you post a screenshot? Also are you using a LCD or a CRT?

Screenshot

LCD.

Daedra · 06-17-2008, 12:01 AM

I see what you mean. type this so I we can find out what your font DPI is

xdpyinfo | grep resolution

also what monitor resolution are you running?

llin · 06-17-2008, 12:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daedra

also what resolution are you running?

121x120 dpi. This in on a T61 with a 14.1" 1400x900 display.

Daedra · 06-17-2008, 12:17 AM

theres your problem, your font dpi is way to high, that is why your fonts are appearing so large, you need to set your DPI to the correct settings, if you looked at my how to you know that there are different ways to do this and I posted a few links, but just for starters, close X and type this

startx -dpi 96

then reopen www.linuxquestions.org and your fonts should be a more acceptable size, give it a try.

More a more precise fix of the font DPI see this post http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...034/page4.html

Bruce Hill · 06-17-2008, 12:22 AM

Once you determine the correct resolution with Daedra's example above, you can make it permanent.

In the monitor section of /etc/X11/xorg.conf use these examples:

Code:

Section "Monitor"

# HorizSync is in kHz unless units are specified.
# HorizSync may be a comma separated list of discrete values, or a
# comma separated list of ranges of values.
# NOTE: THE VALUES HERE ARE EXAMPLES ONLY.  REFER TO YOUR MONITOR'S
# USER MANUAL FOR THE CORRECT NUMBERS.
#    HorizSync  30-64         # multisync
#    HorizSync  31.5, 35.2    # multiple fixed sync frequencies
#    HorizSync  15-25, 30-50  # multiple ranges of sync frequencies
# VertRefresh is in Hz unless units are specified.
# VertRefresh may be a comma separated list of discrete values, or a
# comma separated list of ranges of values.
# NOTE: THE VALUES HERE ARE EXAMPLES ONLY.  REFER TO YOUR MONITOR'S
# USER MANUAL FOR THE CORRECT NUMBERS.
    Identifier     "AOC 203Vw+"
        DisplaySize     433    270
        HorizSync       31.0 - 82.0
        VertRefresh     56.0 - 75.0
        Option         "DPI" "100 x 100"
EndSection

Section "Device"

    #VideoRam    4096
    # Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate
    Identifier     "VESA Framebuffer"
    Driver         "nvidia"
EndSection

Section "Screen"

# If your card can handle it, a higher default color depth (like 24 or 32)
# is highly recommended.
#   DefaultDepth 8
#   DefaultDepth 16
#   DefaultDepth 32
# "1024x768" is also a conservative usable default resolution.  If you
# have a better monitor, feel free to try resolutions such as
# "1152x864", "1280x1024", "1600x1200", and "1800x1400" (or whatever your
# card/monitor can produce)
    Identifier     "Screen 1"
        Device     "VESA Framebuffer"
#       Device     "nVidia"
        Monitor    "AOC 203Vw+"
        DefaultDepth    24
        Option "DynamicTwinView" "false"
SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes      "1680x1050"
EndSubSection
EndSection

except place the correct values for your monitor. NB: If you use the monitor's name as I did for Identifier, you will also need to use it lower in the file for Monitor under Identifier.

Might also check your screen mode in that file. I'm using those settings for a 20 inch digital widescreen LCD.

Daedra, I like Clear Type in Windows, so am going to check out your font suggestions on my test box using a 19" digital Samsung.

Daedra · 06-17-2008, 12:28 AM

Let me know if you have any questions
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...n-12.1-640468/

Bruce Hill · 06-17-2008, 12:29 AM

Thanks. I have the link and the files ... just haven't the time yet.

llin · 06-17-2008, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daedra

More a more precise fix of the font DPI see this post http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...034/page4.html

The DPI line in xorg.conf seems to be ignored, had to add it to startx.

xdpyinfo shows:

Code:

resolution:    96x96 dots per inch
dimensions:    1440x900 pixels (380x238 millimeters)

The dimensions line is off, without forcing the DPI xdpyinfo displays the correct dimensions of 303x190. A benign side effect? The dot pitch of the screen is 0.211 so 120 dpi (25.4/.211 = 128.38) is the native resolution.

1440 x .211 = 303.84mm width
0900 x .211 = 189.9mm height

My understanding from reading the various guides is that 96 dpi is just a reasonable starting point for LCDs. As the above guide states:

Quote:

Changing his memory map from 85dpi to 100dpi may indeed not be visable to him. It could actually look worse. He has gone from being 5.7 points away from his monitor's resolution to 9.3 points away from his monitor's resolution.

Daedra · 06-18-2008, 07:41 PM

We'll your math looks correct but I still think 120 DPI is awfully large for 1440x900 resolution. Did lowering the font DPI change your font sizes?

Stroker · 06-18-2008, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by llin

LQ is one of the few sites that renders in a larger than normal size.

If other sites look fine, then this doesn't sound like a system config problem to me.

What are your setting in FireFox:

Edit > Preferences > Content > Fonts & Colors > Advanced?

Have you changed any font setting in about:config?

Using a custom theme?

As a side note, I would not count on a general Wikipedia article for the dot pitch of your monitor. Check your owner manual or the manufactures website for the dot pitch specification. Just because a monitor can handle a given screen size does not mean it's physical display actually has that small of a dot pitch.

llin · 06-19-2008, 10:57 AM

xfce has a font DPI setting under settings - user interface - font DPI

Changing the setting updates ~/.config/xfce4/mcs_settings/gtk.xml:

Code:

<option name="Xfce/XftDPI" type="int" value="96"/>

"System Default" sets the value to 0.

Screenshot of System Default
Screenshot of xfce font DPI 96
Screenshot of startx -dpi 96

The xfce setting leaves the resolution alone:

Code:

xdpyinfo | grep resolution
  resolution:    121x120 dots per inch

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stroker

Check your owner manual or the manufactures website for the dot pitch specification.

Couldn't find a spec sheet, but I found a ruler and the physical screen size matches the math.

Stroker · 06-19-2008, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by llin

xfce has a font DPI setting under settings - user interface - font DPI

Code:

<option name="Xfce/XftDPI" type="int" value="96"/>

Xft dpi is also an entry in the Xresource Data Base.

Woodsman · 06-20-2008, 09:03 PM

I'm middle-aged and my eyesight gradually reflects that with each passing year. Therefore I prefer readable text, meaning slightly larger, not the nonsense tiny stuff that naive web designers use.

I have used the 120 dpi resolution going back many years to the mid 90s with Windows NT4. Long before my eyesight started reflecting my age. The "Large Fonts" setting was roughly the equivalent of 120 dpi.

With Slackware I use 120 dpi on a 17 inch LCD monitor running a native resolution of 1280 x 1024. Based upon my experience with 17 inch monitors, I suspect with a 1440 horizontal pixels, that the 120 dpi setting is much better than 100 or 96 dpi.

I force the resolution in startx:

serverargs="-dpi 120 -ac -nolisten tcp"

After setting the resolution, I adjust my desktop font sizes to taste. I use KDE. Without changing the desktop font sizes from the typical default settings, all fonts will be much too tiny at 120 dpi. Therefore this is a two-step process although straightforward.

The big challenge is web browsing. All the folks out there who design web pages on 24 inch monitors don't "get it." That is, a significant portion of the people are not interested in tiny fonts or squeezing more information on a page than can be absorbed by any typical human. I ensure my fonts in Firefox are slightly large. In my Firefox user.js, I have the following:

user_pref("font.FreeType2.enable", true);
user_pref("font.default", "sans-serif");
user_pref("font.default.x-western", "sans-serif");
user_pref("font.freetype2.shared-library", "/usr/lib/libfreetype.so.6");
user_pref("font.minimum-size.x-unicode", 14);
user_pref("font.minimum-size.x-western", 14);
user_pref("font.name.cursive.x-western", "Comic Sans MS");
user_pref("font.name.fantasy.x-western", "Algerian");
user_pref("font.name.monospace.x-western", "Lucida Console");
user_pref("font.name.sans-serif.x-western", "Arial");
user_pref("font.name.serif.x-western", "Georgia");
user_pref("font.size.fixed.x-western", 17);
user_pref("font.size.variable.x-western", 17);

However, those adjustments are only a basic foundation. Those font settings will not override those naive web designers who don't "get it." Especially when most sites use cascading style sheets. For web site sites I visit often that use way too small text --- and LQ is one of those sites, I create a custom style sheet. I use Firefox but the idea should work for any browser supporting individual style sheets.

To get this concept to function, I chain (cascade) a series of userContent.css files. I insert the following in every user's firefox userContent.css file:

@import "file:///home//public//firefox_shared/Chrome/userContent.css";

I share several Firefox configuration files with all of my user accounts. Hence the public location for my primary userContent.css file. In that file I add specific Firefox tweaks but at the top of the file I insert:

@import url(userContent-tweaks.css);

In userContent-tweak.css I add the following:

@import url(userContent-site-linuxquestions.css);
@import url(userContent-site-zdnet.css);
@import url(userContent-site-eweek.css);
@import url(userContent-site-enterprisenetworkingplanet.css);
@import url(userContent-site-linuxplanet.css);
@import url(userContent-site-osweekly.css);
@import url(userContent-site-wired.css);
etc.
etc.

When I decide I want to regularly visit an eyesight-busting web site, I create a site specific style sheet and then add the style sheet to userContent-tweaks.css. By chaining (cascading) my style sheets in this manner I need not muck around with my primary userContent.css file.

In each user-content-site-xyz.css file, I insert the tweaks I need to render the specific web site the way I want. Because I am no expert on cascading style sheets, usually I have to experiment until I find the combination I want. My userContent-site-linuxquestions.css looks like this:

@-moz-document domain(linuxquestions.org) {

body, p, div, font, table, tr, td, span, input, select, button {
font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif !important;
font-size: 18px !important;
}
h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {
font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif !important;
font-size: 18px !important;
}
a:link {
text-decoration: underline !important;
font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif !important;
font-size: 18px !important;
}
a:visited {
text-decoration: underline !important;
font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif !important;
font-size: 18px !important;
}
a:hover {
text-decoration: underline !important;
font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif !important;
font-size: 18px !important;
}
.code {
font-size: 18px !important;
font-family: 'Luxida Console', 'Courier New', monospace !important;
}
}

I hope this helps.