Author Topic: Increasing the size of the Fonts  (Read 9878 times)

Martin Iturbide

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Increasing the size of the Fonts
« on: November 23, 2018, 03:37:07 pm »
Hi

I was wondering whats tips do you have to increase the fonts of ArcaOS to a confortable size? I'm using 1,920x1,080 resolution on a 14" display (at a VM) and even that I can increase the size of the fonts with the "Font Palete" I was wondering what tips do you have to try to increase all the fonts at the same time on each component. And it is not that I'm getting old, it is that the resolution is too high :)

Any font, size and technique is welcome.
- Going with the Font Palette window by window may work but I want to do all at once. I need something that change all the desktop and sub folders fonts at once.
- Styler seems to do a good job with the tittlebars and dialogs fonts and sizes.
- Any other recommendation, I like WarpSans but it seems to have some size limitation. Other fonts looks "rough" maybe something with the antialias is not working (check picture attached)
- How do you change the size of the fonts of the "Menu bar" in applications like Firefox?


I guess I should had take more serious the past discussions about fonts.

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Martin Iturbide
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RickCHodgin

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Re: Increasing the size of the Fonts
« Reply #1 on: November 23, 2018, 03:54:05 pm »
I was wondering whats tips do you have to increase the fonts of ArcaOS to a confortable size? I'm using 1,920x1,080 resolution on a 14" display (at a VM) and even that I can increase the size of the fonts with the "Font Palete" I was wondering what tips do you have to try to increase all the fonts at the same time on each component. And it is not that I'm getting old, it is that the resolution is too high :)

In ES/1 and ES/2 I'm using an interesting system I've never seen before, but think it will be good for this.  The ability to resize a window exists by left-clicking the resize areas and adjusting the window's size.  The system I'm employing allows you to right-click the resize areas and when you do that it not only resizes, but also scales the contents inside, making the original size of the window adjust up as it is in its current appearance, as if you're using a magnifying glass on that window.  It allows windows that don't scale well with resize operations to actually resize to be readable as needed.  As I get older I see a greater need for this as my eyes begin to fail me. :-)

A new PM written for OS/2 could do the same thing.

Dave Yeo

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Re: Increasing the size of the Fonts
« Reply #2 on: November 23, 2018, 04:18:01 pm »
Have you gone to the Screen object and used the DPI tab to change the font size there? Same with  icons etc. Unluckily OS/2 is pretty limited to DPI values.
There's  also holding the ALT key while drag and dropping fonts to the various sub-windows, eg text area, menu bar etc.
Unluckily the Mozilla apps only pretend to be native and IIRC, don't respond to the font pallete.

Martin Iturbide

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Re: Increasing the size of the Fonts
« Reply #3 on: November 26, 2018, 02:48:44 am »
Hi Dave.

I'm using a ArcaOS 5.0.3 on a VM guest with the vbox gengradd driver installed, and I can not find the DPI option you talk about. Is it on the Screen object on the Screen tab? I can not find it on both pages of the tab.

Any other tip about the font size and improvement on that area is welcome.

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Martin Iturbide
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Martin Iturbide

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Re: Increasing the size of the Fonts
« Reply #4 on: November 26, 2018, 03:02:58 am »
Hi

I found a dpi font option on the FreeType/2 configuration, is that one?
Any tips on some good values for HD resolution?

Regards
« Last Edit: November 26, 2018, 03:04:47 am by Martin Iturbide »
Martin Iturbide
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Dave Yeo

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Re: Increasing the size of the Fonts
« Reply #5 on: November 26, 2018, 08:21:54 am »
Hi Martin, here, with Panorama, it is a tab on the screen object, just before the XPager tab. I guess plain gengradd doesn't have it.
I don't think the freetype settings will help for most apps, though worth trying.

Martin Iturbide

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Re: Increasing the size of the Fonts
« Reply #6 on: November 26, 2018, 03:19:13 pm »
Hi Dave.

You are right, I'm checking a different test machine that I have around and Panorama has that option, but my issue with fonts is on the VirtualBox guest VM. I was told that SNAP and Panorama does not provide any feature for a VM guest, but maybe increasign the font size can be one for me :)

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Martin Iturbide
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Alex Taylor

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Re: Increasing the size of the Fonts
« Reply #7 on: November 26, 2018, 10:02:19 pm »
I found a dpi font option on the FreeType/2 configuration, is that one?

No.  Do not mess with that setting unless you have some extremely specialized needs (I don't know what).  It won't rescale text in Presentation Manager, all it does is shrink or inflate glyph vectors within the fixed bounding boxes defined by PM, so you'll probably end up with either tiny spaced-apart letters, or distorted and cropped letters in spaces too small for them.

Honestly, I don't know why this feature was included in FreeType/2 originally, but Michal put it in for (I guess) some reason, so I left it there.  If I ever finish and release version 2.x, that setting will be eliminated.  I can't imagine any use for it.


Quote
Any tips on some good values for HD resolution?

Use the Scheme Palette (not the Font Palette).  Set your menu, window, and desktop icon text fonts to larger values, and use Alt+Drag to set it system wide (it may take a couple tries for it to 'take').

Unfortunately a lot of programs (including almost all XWorkplace settings pages) hard code the font to 9.WarpSans and that cannot be changed.  (The Styler substitution feature can help with dialogs, but not in all cases.)

ivan

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Re: Increasing the size of the Fonts
« Reply #8 on: November 26, 2018, 11:08:56 pm »
Now I am back in the land of the living - apparently it was touch and go for some time, I will put in my 2 centimes worth.

Most of your problem Martin is trying 1920x1080 on a 14" monitor.  About the minimum monitor for that resolution is 24" or larger.  I have a 20" 1920x1080 that I need to get the magnifying glass out to read any print on it but I will say it is good for watching films on.

For work I have 2 Samsung S24E650DW 1920x1200 24" monitors flanking a Hanns-G HH281 1920x1200 28" monitor.  Both OS/2 and ArcaOS standards fonts are readable on those.

My advice is for you to decrease the resolution on that 14" monitor or get a 22" or 24" unit that is more suited to do work on and use the 14" for watching u-tube.

Martin Iturbide

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Re: Increasing the size of the Fonts
« Reply #9 on: November 27, 2018, 03:45:18 pm »
Thanks for the replies.

The Scheme Palette almost did the trick. I will try to standardize everything to Warpsans size 11 (the biggest size it allows me) first and see how it ends.

Alex, by any chance do you know why some fonts does not look good (with rough edges) on my VM (attached picture)? What do you suggest me to check on my configuration?

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Martin Iturbide
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Alex Taylor

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Re: Increasing the size of the Fonts
« Reply #10 on: November 28, 2018, 05:23:35 am »
Alex, by any chance do you know why some fonts does not look good (with rough edges) on my VM (attached picture)? What do you suggest me to check on my configuration?

Well in this case it's because Workplace Sans is unhinted.  It's basically always going to look like crap unless you have the embedded bitmaps enabled (only works for certain sizes), or are running it antialiased.  Basically you should never use Workplace Sans for PM desktop text; in fact it's not usually a good idea to use any TrueType font for that purpose, partly because they'll never look as crisp as bitmap fonts, partly because they have a much higher processing overhead..

Martin Iturbide

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Re: Increasing the size of the Fonts
« Reply #11 on: November 28, 2018, 04:03:27 pm »
Hi Alex, thanks for the info.

Sorry to keep asking but I don't know much about this subject.

1) WarpSans is a bitmap fonts (WARPSANS.FON), is there any way to increase it's size on the PM/WPS desktop since it is limited to 11? or it had to be re-created to support higher sizes?

2) What is that "embedded bitmaps enabled"? A feature of the OS or a property of the TTF font when you create it?
Update: I changed the font to "wpsu_bit_103.zip" without any notable change.

3) Is there any way to use anti-alias on the PM/WPS desktop?

Alex, please excuse me asking things that may be trivial, but I have limited knowledge on this area. If there is any article about OS/2, WPS and the fonts please let me know.

Regards
« Last Edit: November 28, 2018, 05:32:32 pm by Martin Iturbide »
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Bogdan

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Re: Increasing the size of the Fonts
« Reply #12 on: November 28, 2018, 11:55:51 pm »
3) Is there any way to use anti-alias on the PM/WPS desktop?

Yes, by using a display adapter and a matching PM display driver that supports this feature. You're talking about anti-aliased fonts? From the drivers shipped with OS/2 only XGA-2 can offer this feature for Type-1 fonts.

Alex Taylor

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Re: Increasing the size of the Fonts
« Reply #13 on: November 29, 2018, 01:56:27 am »
1) WarpSans is a bitmap fonts (WARPSANS.FON), is there any way to increase it's size on the PM/WPS desktop since it is limited to 11? or it had to be re-created to support higher sizes?

No to the first, and yes to the second.

Quote
2) What is that "embedded bitmaps enabled"? A feature of the OS or a property of the TTF font when you create it?
Update: I changed the font to "wpsu_bit_103.zip" without any notable change.

Both. You need the version of the font with embedded bitmaps, and a font driver capable of using them.  ArcaOS comes with both.  However, that will only help you up to 11 point, at 12 point or higher there are no bitmaps.

Quote
3) Is there any way to use anti-alias on the PM/WPS desktop?

Short answer: no.  Longer answer: sort of, if you use the old Innotek Font Engine and do some unorthdox (and highly un-recommended) things with it.

If you really want to use an outline font on the WPS desktop, use a professionally hinted one*, or at least one which is designed for larger point sizes.  (Workplace Sans fails on both qualifications.)

* Arial, Calibri, Monotype Sans WT and Verdana should all qualify as such.

David Graser

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Re: Increasing the size of the Fonts
« Reply #14 on: November 29, 2018, 05:38:47 am »
What does it take to increase the size of these bitmap fonts?