[Bitpim-devel] Phonebook display fonts on Macs too small

[Tom Pollard]

Hi,

Running the current CVS version of bitpim under MacOSX 10.3 with
WxPython 2.4.2.4, I find that the phonebook entry-details view is
unreadable, because the font sizes are too small. First, is it really
just me, or do other people suffer from this, too? Second, it wasn't
obvious to me where in the code (or .xy files) this should be fixed.
But, I found that if I just removed the smallest two font sizes from
the basefonts list in the SetFontScale method of bphtml, things looked
ok in the details view without affecting the appearance anywhere else,
as far as I could notice. Here are the code changes I propose...

diff -w -c -r1.12 bphtml.py
*** bphtml.py 12 Mar 2004 19:42:34 -0000 1.12
--- bphtml.py 14 Mar 2004 13:42:09 -0000
***************
*** 43,53 ****
self.SetFontScale(relsize)

def SetFontScale(self, scale):
! # default sizes on windows
! basefonts=[7,8,10,12,16,22,30]
! # defaults on linux
if guihelper.IsGtk():
! basefonts=[10,13,17,20,23,27,30]
self.SetFonts("", "", [int(sz*scale) for sz in basefonts])
# the html widget clears itself if you set the scale
if len(self.thetext):
--- 43,55 ----
self.SetFontScale(relsize)

def SetFontScale(self, scale):
! # default font sizes
if guihelper.IsGtk():
! basefonts=[10,13,17,20,23,27,30] # Linux
! elif guihelper.IsMac():
! basefonts=[10,12,16,22,30] # MacOS
! else:
! basefonts=[7,8,10,12,16,22,30] # Windows
self.SetFonts("", "", [int(sz*scale) for sz in basefonts])
# the html widget clears itself if you set the scale
if len(self.thetext):

Cheers,

Tom

[Steven Palm]

I found that if I just removed the smallest two font sizes from the
basefonts list in the SetFontScale method of bphtml, things looked ok
in the details view without affecting the appearance anywhere else, as
far as I could notice. Here are the code changes I propose...

Seems reasonable to me. I'll put that in for the next test release.

[Tom Pollard]

Post by Steven Palm

I found that if I just removed the smallest two font sizes from the
basefonts list in the SetFontScale method of bphtml, things looked ok
in the details view without affecting the appearance anywhere else,
as far as I could notice. Here are the code changes I propose...

Seems reasonable to me. I'll put that in for the next test release.

Thanks. Wasn't this a problem on your machine, too? Or, was there
some other way you dealt with it?

Tom

[Roger Binns]

Post by Tom Pollard
But, I found that if I just removed the smallest two font sizes from
the basefonts list in the SetFontScale method of bphtml, things looked
ok in the details view without affecting the appearance anywhere else,
as far as I could notice. Here are the code changes I propose...

Removing them is not the right fix for this. Those listings of base
size need to be exactly 7 items long and should correspond to the
7 sizes used in the wxWidgets code. They are used in a call to
wxHtmlWindow.SetFonts and are listed because there isn't a
wxHtmlWindow.GetFonts. Please read that documentation.

I think this is the list of base sizes for the Mac:

#define wxHTML_FONT_SIZE_1 9
#define wxHTML_FONT_SIZE_2 12
#define wxHTML_FONT_SIZE_3 14
#define wxHTML_FONT_SIZE_4 18
#define wxHTML_FONT_SIZE_5 24
#define wxHTML_FONT_SIZE_6 30
#define wxHTML_FONT_SIZE_7 36

If Mac fonts are too small, then you need to change the
default relative sizing in bphtml.HTMLWindow.__init__.
I would suggest making relsize=None and then inside
set it to 0.7 for non-Mac and whatever for Mac.

Roger

[Tom Pollard]

Post by Roger Binns

Post by Tom Pollard
But, I found that if I just removed the smallest two font sizes from
the basefonts list in the SetFontScale method of bphtml, things looked
ok in the details view without affecting the appearance anywhere else,
as far as I could notice. Here are the code changes I propose...

Removing them is not the right fix for this. Those listings of base
size need to be exactly 7 items long and should correspond to the
7 sizes used in the wxWidgets code. They are used in a call to
wxHtmlWindow.SetFonts and are listed because there isn't a
wxHtmlWindow.GetFonts. Please read that documentation.
#define wxHTML_FONT_SIZE_1 9
#define wxHTML_FONT_SIZE_2 12
#define wxHTML_FONT_SIZE_3 14
#define wxHTML_FONT_SIZE_4 18
#define wxHTML_FONT_SIZE_5 24
#define wxHTML_FONT_SIZE_6 30
#define wxHTML_FONT_SIZE_7 36

Ok, thanks.

Post by Roger Binns
If Mac fonts are too small, then you need to change the
default relative sizing in bphtml.HTMLWindow.__init__.
I would suggest making relsize=None and then inside
set it to 0.7 for non-Mac and whatever for Mac.

Using the correct Mac font sizes, the smallest text in the phonebook
details view is still readable. So I don't think it's necessary to
adjust the font scaling specially for Macs. In case it's useful, I've
attached an updated patch file below.

Tom

[Steven Palm]

Post by Roger Binns
Removing them is not the right fix for this. Those listings of base
size need to be exactly 7 items long and should correspond to the
7 sizes used in the wxWidgets code. They are used in a call to
wxHtmlWindow.SetFonts and are listed because there isn't a
wxHtmlWindow.GetFonts. Please read that documentation.

Sorry to get pissy, but it's horribly frustrating when something is
supposed to be "cross-platform" and you end up having to put in so many
little exceptions for this that and the other thing. If there are
platform differences, it SHOULD be handled transparently by the
relevant libraries, not the end applications. With wxWidgets this is
simply not the case, and it's infuriating at times.

Post by Roger Binns
#define wxHTML_FONT_SIZE_1 9
#define wxHTML_FONT_SIZE_2 12
#define wxHTML_FONT_SIZE_3 14
#define wxHTML_FONT_SIZE_4 18
#define wxHTML_FONT_SIZE_5 24
#define wxHTML_FONT_SIZE_6 30
#define wxHTML_FONT_SIZE_7 36

Call me stupid, but if the base sizes are defined in a given
platform's header file, why are they being redefined with arbitrary
values in bphtml.py? Or is this something else entirely??

[Roger Binns]

Post by Steven Palm
Sorry to get pissy, but it's horribly frustrating when something is
supposed to be "cross-platform" and you end up having to put in so many
little exceptions for this that and the other thing.

They day you find a perfect piece of software, let us know :-)

Post by Steven Palm
If there are
platform differences, it SHOULD be handled transparently by the
relevant libraries, not the end applications. With wxWidgets this is
simply not the case, and it's infuriating at times.

It *IS* being handled transparently by wxWidgets. wxWidgets even
goes so far as to correct the base sizes for each platform so
that the same HTML looks the same on all platforms. (Quite frankly
if you ask for a 10 point font on the different platforms while
using a 17" monitor, you will get different physical sizes hence
the workaround in wxWidgets).

However the wxWidgets API doesn't provide a GetFonts API. I
dug into my old email and found that it does provide the
settings as #defines which I quoted.

However wxPython doesn't export those symbols, due to an oversight.
I worked with Robin on this and he will be exporting them
in the next wxPython release.

Post by Steven Palm
Call me stupid, but if the base sizes are defined in a given
platform's header file, why are they being redefined with arbitrary
values in bphtml.py? Or is this something else entirely??

They are not arbitrary values in bphtml. They are supposed to be
*identical* to the ones in wxWidgets because of wxPython not
exporting the values.

Roger

[Steven Palm]

Post by Roger Binns
They day you find a perfect piece of software, let us know :-)

Well, I certainly have never written or used one, so don't wait for
that email. ;^)

Post by Roger Binns
However the wxWidgets API doesn't provide a GetFonts API. I
dug into my old email and found that it does provide the
settings as #defines which I quoted.
However wxPython doesn't export those symbols, due to an oversight.
I worked with Robin on this and he will be exporting them
in the next wxPython release.

I spent a good bit of time trying to figure out why I couldn't find
them only to realize this myself this afternoon. :-)

Post by Roger Binns
They are not arbitrary values in bphtml. They are supposed to be
*identical* to the ones in wxWidgets because of wxPython not
exporting the values.

I did a similar thing, then, and put in the values defined in
wxMac:html/htmldefines.h. It seems to work well like that, so I'll
leave it there.

Sorry, it's been a terrible day and I ranted when I should have ducked
out and coded some more. :-) Eventually I would have realized the
bigger picture and now all is well.