Arch Linux

BaconPie

Member

Registered: 2010-08-11

Posts: 209

[SOLVED] Fonts seem too big

Fonts for GUI's on Arch Linux (and any opensource distro for that matter) always look a lot bigger than the fonts on Windows. I've never really got to grips with font management and the most I've done is:

pacman -S ttf-ms-fonts ttf-dejavu

What do I need to do to stop fonts being so chunky? Is this just a GTK thing I have to put up with?

Also, fonts on webpages are fine. It's just within GUI's.

Google Chrome:
Arch Linux
Windows (Look at the bookmarks, everything else is fine)

Thunderbird:
Arch Linux
Windows

Edit: I should mention I'm using fluxbox too.

#######
Solution
#######

Use these commands to change the themes fonts:

$ lxappearance
$ gtk-chtheme
$ qtconfig

It seems Google Chrome is immune to these though. If I find a way to change the bookmarks font size I'll mention it in this thread.

Last edited by BaconPie (2010-08-29 23:09:47)

SanskritFritz

Member

From: Budapest, Hungary

Registered: 2009-01-08

Posts: 1,924

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Fonts seem too big

You can find the droid font in the AUR:
bauerbill -S ttf-droid
Othewise there must be a setting in Gnome where you can set the font size systemwide.

---

zʇıɹɟʇıɹʞsuɐs AUR || Cycling in Budapest with a helmet camera || Revised log levels proposal: "FYI" "WTF" and "OMG" (John Barnette)

BaconPie

Member

Registered: 2010-08-11

Posts: 209

Re: [SOLVED] Fonts seem too big

Ok, I've installed ttf-droid from the AUR. Nothing has changed after an X restart.

I don't have Gnome installed. How do I change GUI settings/fonts used?

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: [SOLVED] Fonts seem too big

Fonts for GUI's on Arch Linux (and any opensource distro for that matter) always look a lot bigger than the fonts on Windows. I've never really got to grips with font management and the most I've done is:

pacman -S ttf-ms-fonts ttf-dejavu

What do I need to do to stop fonts being so chunky? Is this just a GTK thing I have to put up with?

Also, fonts on webpages are fine. It's just within GUI's.

Google Chrome:
Arch Linux
Windows (Look at the bookmarks, everything else is fine)

Thunderbird:
Arch Linux
Windows

Edit: I should mention I'm using fluxbox too.

What fonts are you using on Windows?
I think on Windows you have bigger fonts in the url bar.

SanskritFritz

Member

From: Budapest, Hungary

Registered: 2009-01-08

Posts: 1,924

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Fonts seem too big

Ok, I've installed ttf-droid from the AUR. Nothing has changed after an X restart.

I don't have Gnome installed. How do I change GUI settings/fonts used?

So, what do you use?

---

zʇıɹɟʇıɹʞsuɐs AUR || Cycling in Budapest with a helmet camera || Revised log levels proposal: "FYI" "WTF" and "OMG" (John Barnette)

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: [SOLVED] Fonts seem too big

Ok, I've installed ttf-droid from the AUR. Nothing has changed after an X restart.

I don't have Gnome installed. How do I change GUI settings/fonts used?

So, what do you use?

I think OP is using fluxbox - read the edit of the first post.

BaconPie

Member

Registered: 2010-08-11

Posts: 209

Re: [SOLVED] Fonts seem too big

What fonts are you using on Windows?
I think on Windows you have bigger fonts in the url bar.

I'm not too fussed about the URL bar but as far as the Google Chrome settings, they're the same. Though, these settings only apply to webpages - which is why webpages look the same.

So, what do you use?

How do I find out? When I say that command was the only one I've used to do with fonts I mean it!

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: [SOLVED] Fonts seem too big

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Font_Configuration

Last edited by karol (2010-08-29 17:38:37)

BaconPie

Member

Registered: 2010-08-11

Posts: 209

Re: [SOLVED] Fonts seem too big

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Font_Configuration

Already reading... Do I use sub pixel rendering? LCD original? Ubuntu? Cleartype? These options confused me last time.

None of them seem to point to smaller text. Just clearing/making a mess of my display. I'll try some things though.

brebs

Member

Registered: 2007-04-03

Posts: 3,742

Re: [SOLVED] Fonts seem too big

a lot bigger

You should check the DPI (dots per inch) setting of Xorg.

xdpyinfo | grep -B1 dot

You can probably google your monitor/laptop model, to find out what it should be.

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: [SOLVED] Fonts seem too big

a lot bigger

You should check the DPI (dots per inch) setting of Xorg.

xdpyinfo | grep -B1 dot

You can probably google your monitor/laptop model, to find out what it should be.

Is there a way to tell Firefox / Gtk / whatever to just use a certain font .e.g in the menus? It's easy to set a font for terminal or webpage rendering, but what about the UI?

BaconPie

Member

Registered: 2010-08-11

Posts: 209

Re: [SOLVED] Fonts seem too big

$ xdpyinfo | grep -B1 dot
  dimensions:    1680x1050 pixels (474x303 millimeters)
  resolution:    90x88 dots per inch

I tried upping the dpi to 96x96 in xorg.conf yesterday but it just made things worse. I can't find out my DPI anywhere! I have a Samsung Syncmaster 2233BW 22".

The only thing I have managed to find is the 'Dot Pitch/Pixel Pitch' which is 0.282 mm.

Last edited by BaconPie (2010-08-29 18:04:25)

BaconPie

Member

Registered: 2010-08-11

Posts: 209

Re: [SOLVED] Fonts seem too big

Ok, so I figured out my DPI with some pen, paper and good old trig. Turns out it's 90x90. I've changed this in my xorg.conf but the fonts still look to chunky.

How do I change system fonts?

Last edited by BaconPie (2010-08-29 18:21:21)

BaconPie

Member

Registered: 2010-08-11

Posts: 209

Re: [SOLVED] Fonts seem too big

Ok, I've figured out how to change GTK fonts. Run the command gtk-chtheme and it will give a nice tool for configuring the theme being used. Google chrome still hasn't changed though... I'm guessing this is because it doesn't use Gtk?

#######
Solution
#######

Use these commands to change the themes fonts:

$ gtk-chtheme
$ qtconfig

It seems Google Chrome is immune to these though. If I find a way to change the bookmarks font size I'll mention it in this thread.

Last edited by BaconPie (2010-08-29 18:45:01)