Detecting the Display Font Size | CodeGuru

Detecting the Display Font Size

This article was contributed by chensu. Introduction As you’ve probably seen, the end-user can specify their Font Size to be “Small Fonts”, “Large Fonts” or “Custom Font” via the Control Panel’s Display applet (Figure 1 below). Since this setting could adversely affect an application’s user interface (UI), there are many times in more advanced applications […]

Written By
CodeGuru Staff
CodeGuru Staff
Jul 23, 2000
1 minute read
CodeGuru content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More

This article was contributed by chensu.

Introduction

As you’ve probably seen, the end-user can specify their Font Size to be “Small Fonts”, “Large Fonts” or “Custom Font”
via the Control Panel’s Display applet (Figure 1 below). Since this setting could adversely affect an application’s
user interface (UI), there are many times in more advanced applications where
the knowledge of which setting has been chosen by the user would be useful. For example, this information can
be used in determining which dialog to present (if you wanted to present a tailor-made dialog for each font size).
In addition, knowing the currently selected font size could be used to give your application’s end-user a warning
had the UI been designed with only smaller fonts in mind. Whatever your need, this handly little function
will assist you in programmatically determining the selected font size.



Figure 1 – Sometimes the end-user’s choice of font size can wreak havoc with a carefully
designed UI.

Function to Detect Font Size

The following code demonstrates how to detect it

CDC ScreenDC;
ScreenDC.CreateIC(_T(“DISPLAY”), NULL, NULL, NULL);
const int nLogDPIX = ScreenDC.GetDeviceCaps(LOGPIXELSX),
          nLogDPIY = ScreenDC.GetDeviceCaps(LOGPIXELSY);
if (nLogDPIX == 96 && nLogDPIY == 96)
{
 // 96 DPI, Small Fonts
}
else
 if (nLogDPIX == 120 && nLogDPIY == 120)
 {
  // 120 DPI, Large Fonts
 }
 else
 {
  // Otherwise, Custom Font Size
 }
CodeGuru Logo

CodeGuru covers topics related to Microsoft-related software development, mobile development, database management, and web application programming. In addition to tutorials and how-tos that teach programmers how to code in Microsoft-related languages and frameworks like C# and .Net, we also publish articles on software development tools, the latest in developer news, and advice for project managers. Cloud services such as Microsoft Azure and database options including SQL Server and MSSQL are also frequently covered.

Property of TechnologyAdvice. © 2026 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.