(Correct me if I'm wrong here, but... this is why to the best of my understanding.)
The reason for knowing the DPI hasn't been too important in the past, but could grow to become a bigger issue in the future. This is because although most current screens are approximately 96 DPI, there is room for improvement in the future in making denser screens for better detail. My 20" monitor has a resolution of 1680x1050; but what if someone has a 20" monitor that is 3360x2100? Everything would appear to be unusably "small" on this monitor, despite them being the same size. Using DPI properly and sizing based on actual distances, as opposed to via pixels, means that sizes would be standardized. What is an inch on my monitor would also be an inch on the other, just the other would look that much more detailed. This can be important in other ways too: ever try holding up a sheet of paper to your word document? If it doesn't line up quite right at 100% zoom your DPI setting is probably slightly off. As the DPI on monitors increases, this will become a bigger issue. In your example, the graphics on both screens would be the same size. The menu bar on each would be .25" on both, or what have you. The problem you seem to take with proper DPI settings seems to be caused by your viewing distance from the screen; an issue which DPI isn't meant to correct for. -- Font sizes in Gutsy are vulnerable to bad X.org DPI detection https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/118745 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is a bug assignee. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs