lol I knew someone would post something like that and i'm aware of ways to do that (though not sed, since you have to be a wizard and/or a machine to use that). i'm still keeping that line, could be handy sometime, thanks.
i'm working between multiple machines from a centralized patch repository, which means fixing the look of all the patches for one will render them weird looking on the others. my main patching machine is running Ubuntu and everything looks fine on it. the gig machine I need stuff to look good on is a new macbook, hence the retina display.
anyway, the fact remains that all dialogs and menu bars and titles stay ugly even if I can partially fix the patches by reducing font size.
i'm guessing it's XQuartz's fault somehow, but I know nothing about it or how to change the display mode.
jm