Thunderbird renders fonts too small w/o dpi pref set

[Matt Behrens]

Binary package hint: thunderbird

With a fresh install of intrepid circa alpha-4, I changed the GNOME DPI to 72 dpi (since I have a 1024x768 LCD panel and can't abide the wasted screen space), font rendering to subpixel, and left hinting at slight.

Thunderbird renders all its fonts much smaller than any other application, including Firefox. They're nearly unreadable.

I found adding user_pref("layout.css.dpi", 0); to thunderbird's prefs.js is a viable workaround for this issue, thanks to a discussion at http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-437727.html

Updates as of today have not corrected this issue. If I remove the pref the font rendering returns to tiny.

xdpyinfo:

name of display: :0.0
version number: 11.0
vendor string: The X.Org Foundation
vendor release number: 10499906
X.Org version: 1.4.99.906
maximum request size: 16777212 bytes
motion buffer size: 256
bitmap unit, bit order, padding: 32, LSBFirst, 32
image byte order: LSBFirst
number of supported pixmap formats: 7
supported pixmap formats:
    depth 1, bits_per_pixel 1, scanline_pad 32
    depth 4, bits_per_pixel 8, scanline_pad 32
    depth 8, bits_per_pixel 8, scanline_pad 32
    depth 15, bits_per_pixel 16, scanline_pad 32
    depth 16, bits_per_pixel 16, scanline_pad 32
    depth 24, bits_per_pixel 32, scanline_pad 32
    depth 32, bits_per_pixel 32, scanline_pad 32
keycode range: minimum 8, maximum 255
focus: window 0x1e00266, revert to Parent
number of extensions: 30
    BIG-REQUESTS
    Composite
    DAMAGE
    DOUBLE-BUFFER
    DPMS
    Extended-Visual-Information
    GLX
    MIT-SCREEN-SAVER
    MIT-SHM
    MIT-SUNDRY-NONSTANDARD
    RANDR
    RECORD
    RENDER
    SECURITY
    SGI-GLX
    SHAPE
    SYNC
    TOG-CUP
    X-Resource
    XC-APPGROUP
    XC-MISC
    XFIXES
    XFree86-DGA
    XFree86-Misc
    XFree86-VidModeExtension
    XINERAMA
    XInputExtension
    XKEYBOARD
    XTEST
    XVideo
default screen number: 0
number of screens: 1

screen #0:
  dimensions: 1024x768 pixels (271x203 millimeters)
  resolution: 96x96 dots per inch
  depths (7): 24, 1, 4, 8, 15, 16, 32
  root window id: 0x7e
  depth of root window: 24 planes
  number of colormaps: minimum 1, maximum 1
  default colormap: 0x20
  default number of colormap cells: 256
  preallocated pixels: black 0, white 16777215
  options: backing-store NO, save-unders NO
  largest cursor: 64x64
  current input event mask: 0xfa8033
    KeyPressMask KeyReleaseMask EnterWindowMask
    LeaveWindowMask ExposureMask StructureNotifyMask
    SubstructureNotifyMask SubstructureRedirectMask FocusChangeMask
    PropertyChangeMask ColormapChangeMask
  number of visuals: 3
  default visual id: 0x21
  visual:
    visual id: 0x21
    class: TrueColor
    depth: 24 planes
    available colormap entries: 256 per subfield
    red, green, blue masks: 0xff0000, 0xff00, 0xff
    significant bits in color specification: 8 bits
  visual:
    visual id: 0x22
    class: DirectColor
    depth: 24 planes
    available colormap entries: 256 per subfield
    red, green, blue masks: 0xff0000, 0xff00, 0xff
    significant bits in color specification: 8 bits
  visual:
    visual id: 0x5c
    class: TrueColor
    depth: 32 planes
    available colormap entries: 256 per subfield
    red, green, blue masks: 0xff0000, 0xff00, 0xff
    significant bits in color specification: 8 bits

xorg.conf:

Section "InputDevice"
 Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
 Driver "kbd"
 Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
 Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
 Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
 Identifier "Configured Mouse"
 Driver "mouse"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
 Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
 Driver "synaptics"
 Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
 Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
 Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
 Option "HorizEdgeScroll" "0"
EndSection
Section "Device"
 Identifier "Configured Video Device"
 Boardname "vesa"
 Busid "PCI:1:0:0"
 Driver "nv"
 Screen 0
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
 Identifier "Configured Monitor"
 Vendorname "Generic LCD Display"
 Modelname "LCD Panel 1024x768"
 Horizsync 31.5-48.0
 Vertrefresh 56.0 - 65.0
  modeline "640x480@60" 25.2 640 656 752 800 480 490 492 525 -vsync -hsync
  modeline "800x600@56" 36.0 800 824 896 1024 600 601 603 625 +hsync +vsync
  modeline "800x600@60" 40.0 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628 +hsync +vsync
  modeline "1024x768@60" 65.0 1024 1048 1184 1344 768 771 777 806 -vsync -hsync
 Gamma 1.0
EndSection

Section "Screen"
 Identifier "Default Screen"
 Device "Configured Video Device"
 Monitor "Configured Monitor"
 Defaultdepth 24
 SubSection "Display"
  Depth 24
  Virtual 1024 768
  Modes "1024x768@60" "800x600@60" "800x600@56" "640x480@60"
 EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
 Identifier "Default Layout"
  screen 0 "Default Screen" 0 0
 Inputdevice "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection
Section "Module"
 Load "glx"
 Load "GLcore"
 Load "v4l"
EndSection
Section "device" #
 Identifier "device1"
 Boardname "vesa"
 Busid "PCI:1:0:0"
 Driver "nv"
 Screen 1
EndSection
Section "screen" #
 Identifier "screen1"
 Device "device1"
 Defaultdepth 24
 Monitor "monitor1"
EndSection
Section "monitor" #
 Identifier "monitor1"
 Gamma 1.0
EndSection
Section "ServerFlags"
EndSection

[timor (timor)]

I have similar problem. Really small fonts in Thunderbird, and normal in Firefox. But changing layout.css.dpi option isn't working. This seems to be a problem with Gnome, because under KDE, Xfce or even Fluxbox, Thunderbird looks normal.
I found temporary solution. Go to System -> Preferences -> Look and feel, change font rendering option to anything, change to what was earlier and then Thunderbird looks normal in Gnome.
I don't know what changes this in fonts configuration/cache etc but maybe there is a way to run it on startup?

Thanks for help.

[Matt Behrens (zigg)]

Hi timor,

The user_pref still works for me. I just added it to my prefs.js on a new system (jaunty netbook-remix).

Are you adding it to the prefs.js in $HOME/.mozilla-thunderbird? That's where it's supposed to go.

[timor (timor)]

Updating to Jaunty resolves problem. But I've got still layout.css.dpi setup to 0. Seems that in Jaunty this was patched. If you want I could try to run TH with default layout.css.dpi - just for testing purposes :)

[Matt Behrens (zigg)]

Ah, OK, must have been a blip. You don't need to test it without the pref, I wouldn't think; I saw the problem on this new system here, which is why I added the pref.

From my POV nothing's ever changed...

[Mike Barnard (mike-bleeding-head)]

I had this problem in Xubuntu/Intrepid and I ignored it for the most part. I upgraded to Jaunty and the problem was even worse - it affected more areas of Thunderbird. The user_pref described above did correct the problem, but man, it's annoying to have to execute such an esoteric hack just to get something working that worked fine in Hardy.

[Matt Behrens (zigg)]

Just now doing this dpi pref workaround for karmic (2.0.0.22+build1+nobinonly-0ubuntu3). Between my experiences and the other comments in this bug, I'd say it's confirmed.

[Matt Behrens (zigg)]

This has been fixed since lucid, which shipped with Thunderbird 3.