Ubuntu
libgnome package

  1. Bug #118745
  2. Comment #40

Comment 40 for bug 118745

Revision history for this message
Anthony S (aaaantoine) wrote : Re: Font sizes in Gutsy are vulnerable to bad X.org DPI detection

Pardon my curiosity, but what is the significance of the OS knowing the PPI of the screen? Consider the following scenarios:

Screen #1 is an independent monitor: a 19" LCD with native 1280x1024 resolution. The PPI is approx. 85. The user sits between 3 and 5 feet away from this screen.

Screen #2 is a laptop panel: a 14.1" LCD with native 1280x800 resolution. The PPI is approx. 105. The user sits between 1 and 2 feet away from this screen.

When the GUI scales everything by the DPI of the monitor, it will scale everything according to what the "real" size of the graphics should be. This means that Screen #1 will display more information on it than Screen #2, regardless of resolution. However, the smaller size of the graphics on Screen #1 causes the user to strain at his usual sitting distance from the monitor, while the relatively large graphics on Screen #2 suffocate him with their sheer size.

I guess what I'm asking is, wouldn't it make more sense to have a GUI scaling tool that lets you resize all graphics (independent of resolution) rather than autosize everything according to the monitor's PPI?