Question about Windows fonts in Linux

[iamvoyager]

I'm a Web developer, so of course I installed ies4linux with Wine so that I can see how Internet Explorer renders my pages. I also copied The Times and Arial fonts from my XP installation so that I could get a better idea about exactly how pages will look...

..but I've noticed that the Windows fonts seem to render much larger in Linux. This didn't seem like such a big deal at first, because it just meant I can't really test in IE without booting into XP... but then I realized that some Linux machines will have the Windows fonts - such as my little brother's computer, which is running Ubuntu with the "restricted extras" package installed.

Some of the Web pages I create depend on correct sizing of fonts in order to display parts of the page as intended, so this creates an annoying problem.

I doubt there is anything I can do to address the problem, but I am still curious if someone can tell me why the Windows fonts render so much larger on Linux??

[darkrose0510]

This is quite intriguing, I'll have to see if I can find someone with windows so I can compare.

But you really shouldn't rely on font size for page formatting, as there would be very little chance of the page ever displaying the you want it.

[i92guboj]

First, on web, never use pixel sizes. Use relative sizes. It's just a general advice, you are of course free to ignore it if you feel that way is better for a given purpose.

Second, your problem might be related to the dpi your xorg server is using.

You can run this on each box to check the dpi:

# xdpyinfo | grep resolution
  resolution:    112x112 dots per inch

The ideal way to set a correct dpi is to use this in your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file:

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Philips 109E5"
HorizSync 30-92
VertRefresh 50-160
DisplaySize 375 273
# 1600x1280 @ 70.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 93.24 kHz; pclk: 204.38 MHz
Modeline "1600x1280_70.00" 204.38 1600 1720 1896 2192 1280 1281 1284 1332 -HSync +Vsync
EndSection

Look at the line in bolds. It must be on your Monitor section and the sizes are in milimeters. This allows X to guess the correct dpi for your monitor, and saves you some trouble.