Desktop Settings for HTPC

[kenm_uk]

Hi. I built a home theatre (or media) pc (htpc) running Ubuntu 9.10 with XBMC on a flat-panel 1080p tv. This handles movies/music/photos perfectly.

However, I occasionally wish to use some desktop applications (like Firefox) using the wireless keyboard. It is often difficult to see the relatively small text in Gnome and Firefox from 8-10 feet away. Is there an easy way to customize the desktop settings so that all text and menus are displayed larger for users sitting considerably further away from the display than the usual workstation environment?

Thanks.

[kenm_uk]

I recently discovered some excellent solutions to this problem at:

Mark Brewster's Blog
GUI legibility (on a Hi Def Widescreen TV) for Firefox on Ubuntu 9.10
January 19, 2010

One problem I didn’t anticipate was the (il)legibility of the screen on my new HTPC when browsing the web. I have a 37″ Toshiba 37AV505D flatscreen with the HTPC hooked up via DVI cable. Running at 1920 x 1080px everything ends up looking, at best, ******* tiny.

At first I squinted, begrudgingly shuffled closer and made do with it all, but it was quickly doing my head in, and this is before I’d even let my technophobic short-sighted other half at it. I wasn’t going to spend all day on the Internet with it as it’s mainly for running XBMC which has nice, big fonts and is built with widescreen TVs in mind. However, as I’d gone to so much effort to make Firefox start from within XBMC I thought I may as well bite the bullet and figure out how to jig the zoom settings around in Ubuntu and Firefox to make the whole experience more comfortable....
http://markbrewster.wordpress.com/2010/01/19/gui-legibility-for-xbmc-on-ubuntu-9-10/