Hey folks, I am proposing that for the Karmic Koala release, we set all font sizes (application, document, desktop, window title and fixed width) to 9pts, for the following reasons: - Fonts currently look over-sized on the default configuration (96dpi, 10pt, subpixel smoothing & slight hinting) if you compare to competing operating systems[1]. - Larger fonts mean larger GTK widgets, causing excessive padding in applications and wasting screen real-estate [2]. This is an issue for everybody - ranging from netbook users to widescreen users (who have limited screen space / vertical screen space). - In previous releases, 10pt fonts looked smaller due to a difference smoothing/hinting method used (prior to Jaunty, it was grayscale smoothing & medium hinting). The new method used since Jaunty (subpixel smoothing & slight hinting) has improved the quality of font rendering, but at the cost of inflating the perceived size of fonts [3]. Rather than myself going into a lot of detail with arguments for and against this change, I would appreciate any feedback from the rest of the community. All that I would ask is that you give this proposal a fair chance - change the font sizes on your system to 9pt, and evaluate it for a day or so. We have become accustomed to - and perhaps comfortable with - a default 10pt font, but it is not necessarily optimal. Regards, Conn Notes: [1] Comparison screenshots, showing default font sizes: Windows 7 (9pt, proprietary ClearType smoothing): <a href="http://www.redmondpie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Windows-7-6.1.7600.16384.win7_rtm.090710-1945.png">http://www.redmondpie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Windows-7-6.1.7600.16384.win7_rtm.090710-1945.png</a> Windows XP (9pt, no ClearType smoothing): <a href="http://www.winsupersite.com/images/reviews/wxp_rtm_home_004.gif">http://www.winsupersite.com/images/reviews/wxp_rtm_home_004.gif</a> [2] Before anyone suggests otherwise, this is not a problem with the GTK theme's padding. I am the co-author of the Human theme, and I can assure you that widget padding is already minimal; reducing the padding any further would compromise the consistency of widgets. [3] Font rendering comparison: Jaunty alpha 1 (10pt, greyscale & medium): <a href="http://news.softpedia.com/newsImage/Ubuntu-9-04-Alpha-1-Screenshot-Tour-5.jpg/">http://news.softpedia.com/newsImage/Ubuntu-9-04-Alpha-1-Screenshot-Tour-5.jpg/</a> Jaunty alpha 6 (10pt, subpixel & slight - identical to Karmic): <a href="http://news.softpedia.com/newsImage/Ubuntu-9-04-Alpha-6-Screenshot-Tour-8.jpg/">http://news.softpedia.com/newsImage/Ubuntu-9-04-Alpha-6-Screenshot-Tour-8.jpg/</a> Go to System -> Preferences -> Appearance, Fonts tab. Click on "Details..." button, and you can verify the difference in perceived size differences. A 10pt font look quite large with subpixel smoothing & slight hinting (Jaunty & later default), whereas a 10pt font using greyscale smoothing & medium hinting (Intrepid & earlier) looks more compact. A 9pt font looks compact using any type of font smoothing/hinting.