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IBM Forms Viewer and Designer font size explanation

Question & Answer


Question

A standard Arial or Times New Roman font is a different size in IBM Forms Viewer and Designer. This technote discusses the reason for the difference and what the IBM Forms Development teams are planning to do to correct it.

Answer

In order for the Viewer to display the font the same as the Designer, the monitor DPI (dots per inch) needs to be set to 120 DPI for the font sizes specified in the table below. To explain why the DPI needs to be set to 120, we explain how programmers code the pixel heights.

When setting the pixel height, the programmer knows that one point is equal to 1/72 of an inch. So the programmer would use a formula to figure out how many pixels high to draw a font. For example: Pixel height = Point size * DPI of machine / 72

Unfortunately, this value would display a different pixel height on different machines if they do not have the same DPI. The Viewer font calculations were standardized using 120 DPI. As a result, it converts the point size as follows:


Pixel height = Point size * 120 / 72

The Designer does not have the same control over the pixel height of the Viewer; therefore, for some font sizes there is a difference in height of 1 pixel.

List of the affected font sizes up to 100 point are as shown in this table:



Font Point Size
Designer Pixel Height
Viewer Pixel Height
1
1
2
6
9
10
11
17
18
13
21
22
18
29
30
23
37
38
25
41
42
30
49
50
35
57
58
37
61
62
42
69
70
47
77
78
49
81
82
54
89
90
59
97
90
61
101
102
66
109
110
71
117
118
73
121
122
78
129
130
83
137
138
85
141
142
90
149
150
95
157
158
97
161
162

As a result, to view the font correctly in the Designer and the Viewer, you should set the DPI to 120.

To set the DPI, do the following:

1. Right-click the Windows Desktop, and select Properties


2. Select the Settings tab
3. Click the Advanced button
4. On the General tab, change the DIP setting to "Large size (120 DPI)"

The IBM Forms architects are reviewing the possibility of standardizing the fonts for 96 DPI.

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Document Information

Modified date:
15 November 2019

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swg21303328

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