In article <9hthdh$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, (Dave
Huang) wrote:
> In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> Henri Sivonen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >The use of pixels is, very, very intentional and by design.
>
> Documentation, please?
http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28899 for example.
> All that would do is make default installations of Mozilla unusable
> as screen resolutions increase.
How do you suppose the logical resolution would automagically track the
true resolution? And you don't have to use the default size. If you
don't like it, pick another size. That's why it is a pref.
> The trend is to move _away_ from pixels.
In cluefully authored Web content, the trend is away from both pixels
*and* points (towards % and em). Configuring the user agent is another
story and there the trend is towards pixels.
> >The pref is first and foremost aimed at screen display. Points are more
> >or less arbitrary in the context of a screen (in practice). In the
> >context of my screen, the size of a pixel is well-defined for me (and
> >I'm the person setting my prefs).
>
> I don't see how it's more or less arbitrary, seeing that there _is_
> a screen resolution setting right there on the panel where you can
> set it to "Other" and measure the length of a line and enter in the
> length in cms or inches.
The logical resolution is more or less arbitrary unless the user
configures it properly as you describe. If the user is clueful enough to
do that, setting the font size in px is no problem for him/her.
> >The idea that users are in many cases expected to use points for setting
> >sizes for their personal pixel-based displays is a Bad Thing--especially
> >if the point is not a real point but the relationship of the point and
> >the pixel is some arbitrary constant (as it is on Mac, to great extent
> >*in practice* on Windows and X11).
>
> No, users don't care how big their pixels are.
Do users who can't grasp the idea of a pixel grasp the idea that the
size of a point depends on the logical resolution? If the user doesn't
understand what a pixel is, (s)he can just pick a larger number to get a
larger font. OTOH, if the font size was set in points, the end user
would have two interacting prefs to deal with.
> Nobody measures font sizes in pixels.
I do. Mozilla does. IE 5 for Mac does. Opera 5 for Mac does. I guess
numerous Photoshop users do.
> Mozilla provides a method for the user to tell it what the
> relation between pixels and points are for his display, independently
> of the OS's or window system's idea of that relation--it should use that
> information.
Mozilla is used in envoronments where the suitable paragraph font size
is less or equal to 24 pixels and no anti-aliasing method is used. In
some Unix environments, even outline fonts aren't used. In that kind of
environment, *pixels per em* is an important concept. The fonts are
usually significantly more legible if the pixels per em value is an even
integer.
So let's suppose the user is in such an enviroment and wants to set the
font size to 18px. Is it easier to set the font size to 18px or to go
through a calculation involving points and the logical resolution?
--
Henri Sivonen
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.clinet.fi/~henris/
