So, rather than measuring a video output's pixel density in dots-per-inch, what about measuring it in arc-seconds-per-pixel, based on the expected average position of the user?
That would handle phones, monitors, TVs, and projectors, and nicely sidesteps all the issues you mentioned in your post. Then, a 12pt font really would look the same everywhere in a much more useful sense: a 12pt font on your laptop screen at the distance you view a laptop screen will have the same size as a 12pt font on your phone screen at the distance you view your phone screen, and the same size as a 12pt font on your projector at the distance the average audience member sees the projector output.
Yes, I do realize that we can't autodetect field-of-view in all cases. X couldn't always autodetect DPI, but it still represented a good way to calibrate monitor scaling even if you had to set it manually. And some devices could autodetect field-of-view properly.
As for the issue of accessibility, that seems completely orthogonal to the issue of DPI or field-of-view. Both accessibility and personal preference on font sizes could work via a separate scaling factor that affects the actual sizes of fonts: 12pt should look like 12pt everywhere, but the user might want to explicitly prefer 9pt (because they have good vision) or 16pt (because they have poor vision).
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Date: 2012-07-13 07:41 am (UTC)That would handle phones, monitors, TVs, and projectors, and nicely sidesteps all the issues you mentioned in your post. Then, a 12pt font really would look the same everywhere in a much more useful sense: a 12pt font on your laptop screen at the distance you view a laptop screen will have the same size as a 12pt font on your phone screen at the distance you view your phone screen, and the same size as a 12pt font on your projector at the distance the average audience member sees the projector output.
Yes, I do realize that we can't autodetect field-of-view in all cases. X couldn't always autodetect DPI, but it still represented a good way to calibrate monitor scaling even if you had to set it manually. And some devices could autodetect field-of-view properly.
As for the issue of accessibility, that seems completely orthogonal to the issue of DPI or field-of-view. Both accessibility and personal preference on font sizes could work via a separate scaling factor that affects the actual sizes of fonts: 12pt should look like 12pt everywhere, but the user might want to explicitly prefer 9pt (because they have good vision) or 16pt (because they have poor vision).