On Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 11:59 PM, Tim <ignored_mailbox@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Why do people repeatedly get this so wrong? (Users and those making the > systems.) The pixel count and resolution should be set to match the > display card and the monitor, it's the FONT SIZE and graphics sizes that > you should change. My weary eyes are sorry to tell you that it is only in the last few years that application software has been widely available, that allows one to increase the display size without also increasing the print size. That is, one can set the size of some type in points, but then set the magnification at which the entire document is displayed - or the "minification" if you want to fit a whole bunch of pages on the screen, without scrolling. You know what I'd really, really like? I don't actually want those big fat pixels I went on so much about. Not At All! No, what I want are lots and lots of really *tiny* pixels, say 200 of them per inch. But I want my application software to still be able to get the sizes of things right, both on the display and on printed pages. That would require that drawing be done in terms of "ruler measurements", and not in terms of "pixel measurements". For type, the text size would be specified in points or picas. For everything else it would be specified in inches or centimetres. Cocoa on Mac OS X can do this; Cocoa drawing is always done using floating-point measurements, and not integer pixel dimensions at all. I eagerly look forward to the day that Apple starts shipping Mac laptops with 200 DPI LCD screens. Such screens are already being manufactured, but are only economical for small devices such as smartphones, because they are very expensive. But Wait! There's More! If Cocoa can do it on Mac OS X, then GnuStep can do it on Linux too. GnuStep is a source code-compatible clone on Cocoa. Both frameworks use the Objective-C programming language. On both platforms, the Objective-C compiler is - and always has been - GCC with the addition of the Objective-C front end. But Wait! There's Less! GnuStep isn't supported on Fedora because of some manner of Political Insanity. Cocoa and GnuStep software is always packaged in small directory trees known as bundles; all of the files that on a traditional *NIX box are spewed all over God's Creation and Then Some are, with GnuStep and Cocoa, all kept neatly in one small tree. To cleanly uninstall a GnuStep or Cocoa application, one just uses "rm -r" on the bundle directory, or drags it to the trash. But I'm afraid that just isn't acceptable to the Fedora Powers That Be. Until they can find some way to package GnuStep applications so that they too are spread all over God's Creation and Them Some, those who decide what software is to be included in Fedora, will not allow GnuStep applications of any kind on a Fedora box. My weary eyes just want to say, that that's a really fucked-up attitude. And Then Some. Don Quixote. -- Don Quixote de la Mancha quixote@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.dulcineatech.com Dulcinea Technologies Corporation: Software of Elegance and Beauty. -- users mailing list users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate/MailingListGuidelines
