'Scaling' Xubuntu to the smaller screen?

I'm kinda new to Linux (the 'messing around with the actual software' bit anyway, I've been using Ubuntu 'as is' on my desktop for a while so I like to think I know my way around the streets a little, I just keep out of the houses ), so there's probably a universal way of doing this that I'm missing - I've installed Xubuntu on my lovely new Aspire One, and all is good except for the fact that all the screens, fonts and icons are huge (not unusually huge, just 'we designed this for a proper screen' huge). I've manually tweaked most of the fonts and icon sizes down so that they look good, but I was wondering if there was a universal way of doing this for all fonts and all icons and just generally everything that's displayed on the screen.

For example, I've tweaked the desktop so that it looks fine, but when I open a program such as Abiword, the text within the actual application is still too big. If I type something in Abiword, it shows up as a size 10 font, because that's what it's set to be. However, I don't want to view it as a size 10 font, because on my screen it's too big. I want to view it as, say, a size 6 font, but have it still BE a size 10 font for all other purposes (printing, etc). Like I say, I basically want to 'zoom out' the view. If that makes any sense at all.

I'm fairly sure this is possible, as I had no problems with the Xfce interface that was shipped with the Aspire One, and Xubuntu uses Xfce (which is the reason I got Xubuntu instead of Ubuntu), so I'd assume it was doable... Any suggestions?

 

Hi Styxx,

there are two things you can do, both you can find in Settings->Appearance->Fonts:

1. adjust standard font size, for example I use Sans with a size of 9

2. adjust resolution (own DPI value), I chose a dpi value of 110

You have to play around with these values until you find a good combination that works for you

 

"The default font size used by Xubuntu is in many cases unsuitable for the small screen. Already during the installation windows can be bigger than the screen and the OK button is invisible. The font size can be changed at Applications --> Settings --> Settings Manager --> Font. Size 7 solved most problems for me. The change can be done already when running the LiveCD before the installation in order to be able to see the installation windows correctly. It needs to be repeated once after the installation to become permanent."

"There are various methods that will help you make better use of the Aspire One's small screen. One of the most important is being able to move windows that are too large to fit on the screen at once. To move a hidden part of the window into view, click and drag with the left mouse button on any part of the window while holding down the ALT key. However, you won't be able to drag windows so the top of the window is above the top of the screen. To fix that, enter the following in a terminal window:"

Code:

gconftool-2 --set /apps/compiz/plugins/move/allscreens/options/constrain_y --type bool 0

More at: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AspireOne