point : Java Glossary

• Originally, a point was a unit of measure in the typesetting industry. A printer’s point is 1/72.27 inch.
• In PostScript a point is 1/72 of in an inch.
• In Java, a point is one pixel width/height. If you had a old fashioned low-resolution monitor with 72 dpi resolution, then a point would also mean 1/72 of an inch. So when you ask for a 10 point Font in Java, you don’t get what printers call a 10-point font. You get a font about 10 pixels high, which could be tiny or huge depending on your monitor resolution.
• In Java, with Graphics, a Point with a capital P, is a class describing a location on the screen, or a location within a window relative to its upper left corner, with an x and y co-ordinate. Points have two public int fields x and y, however the getX and getY methods return doubles. x is measured across from the left in pixels. y is measured down from the top in pixels.
• In Java, with Graphics2D, a Point2D with a capital P, is a class describing a location on the screen, or a location within a window in user-defined co-ordinates, which are much more flexible. Using AffineTransform, you can transform the co-ordinates to go in any direction you want and aren’t even necessarily orthogonal. Point2D.Float that Point2D.Double are similar to Point, but they store the x, y in float and double respectively. The strange dot in the name comes about because Float and Double are inner classes of Point2D.

Here is what various point sizes look like on your screen in HTML:

Here is what various point sizes look like on your screen in Java: Sorry, you need Java 1.1+ to run this Applet.

If, pointsize, the above PointSize Java Applet does not work…

1. This Java Applet needs Java 1.1 or later, version 1.6.0_14 recommended and a recent browser.
2. You should see the Applet above looking much like the screenshot. If you don’t, the following should help you get it working:
3. If you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer, try another browser. Seriously. Microsoft has taken great pains, over and over, to screw up Java and every other multi-platform standardisation.
4. If you are using Internet Explorer 7 or 8, you must allow blocked content permission for Active X to run. This also gives permission to Java to run. Click the Information bar, and then click Allow blocked content. Unfortunately, this also allows dangerous ActiveX code to run. However, you must do this in order to get access to perfectly-safe Java Applets running in a sandbox. This is part of Microsoft’s war on Java. Don’t put up with it! Use a different browser.
5. Especially if this Applet has worked before, try clearing the browser cache and rebooting.
6. To ensure your Java is up to date, check with Wassup. First, download it and run it as an application independent of your browser, then run it online as an Applet to add the complication of your browser.
7. If the above Applet does not work, check the Java console for error messages.
8. If the above Applet does not work, you might have better luck with the downloadable version.
9. If you still can’t get the program working click HELP for more detail.
10. If you can’t get the above Applet working after trying the advice above and from the HELP button below, have bugs to report or ideas to improve the program or its documentation, please send me an email at.

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To see what type looks like at various point sizes see Font Shower.