The problem isn’t just with Framework laptops, an increasing number of x86 laptops are built with odd resolution panels that require fractional scaling. Very few offer panels that are conducive to 2x integer scaling, and while typical lower DPI panels that don’t require scaling are a config option on some models, that often also comes with other major tradeoffs like low brightness or bad color reproduction.

It's 2256x1504 and 3:2. It's a nice screen, but it's one that absolutely works best at 1.5x scale since 1 is unreadable and 2 wastes plenty of screen real estate.

As an idiot who's never used a screen with more than 1080p resolution, is there a reason why just increasing font size doesn't work?

Not all UI elements scale with font size.

Illustrations, nested element containers, navigation controls, etc. It looks very comical when you first see it.

Desktop apps scale their layout based on the number of pixels, not on text size. So (with the notable exception of browser apps and by consequence Electron apps) you will just end up having bigger text in a badly laid out window if you just increase text size.

Big fonts, small UI components. Looks bad and requires more accuracy with mouse movements.

Padding inside boxes/buttons looks all weird.

Since for me less is more I'm doing 200% non-fractional with a smaller font. The problem is that I need a different font size from my 1920x1200 laptop screen (usually secondary, far away from me, with documentation websites/slack/etc) and my primary 4k.

For browsers I can change the default font size and forget the controls, since I'm using vimium, but stuff like Skype/Slack/Zoom/etc needs more dancing whenever I change the display.

Most of the time that is actually much better than fractional scaling.

On a laptop you are severely constrained by the screen real estate, so minimizing the size of the clutter and focus on the content (text) is a great tradeoff in most circumstances.

No, though Gnome really isn't set up for it. Or being useful, really. But on my Framework 13 with KDE I have no issues. I prefer 1.25x when standalone and 1.5x when docked and used as a second screen (it's farther away) and KDE works fine with both and switches automatically. I don't even think about it, and can't think of anything I personally use that still gives me the blurry window in xwayland issue.

The real trouble is this idiotic concept of "scale" in the first place as if ancient assumptions about pixel density cannot change. It's nothing to draw vector elements or fonts larger, and it's next to nothing to have more than one size of display element (tiny) users could select from.

The only way to make Gnome usable is to use the accessability options

It's a good reason not to use GNOME.

"What makes you think sharpness is a metric?" https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/issues/3787