2016r4 IDE font issues Win7

Just downloaded 2016r4 and have noticed the ‘system’ font doesn’t appear to be rendering the same as 2016r3. Noticeable all over, ie. in the actual IDE, all the main Run, Build icons etc… and in the Navigator. The fonts are slightly pixelated and thin looking. It reminds me of what fonts usually look like when ClearType is not selected in Windows Appearance settings.

I checked Xojo options settings, nothing different there and restarted the computer - same thing. The issue also causes labels in my application to be slightly out of position.

All looks fine if I open the app in 2016r3.

Any ideas?

I already reported some issues.
See this topic: https://forum.xojo.com/36954-xojo-2016r4-issues-on-windows-drawing

Filed a feedback report ‘#46095 - Label font not showing correct font on Windows’ which has been verified and fixed. I thought Xojo would’ve included the fix in 2016r4 but it wasn’t.

You’ll have to wait until 2016r4.1 I guess.

Thanks Massimo & Grant.

I’ve gone back to 2016r3. All is good.

Anyway, it doesn’t really matter that much about how or what the Xojo IDE looks like, providing it doesn’t wreck my code. But as usual, it seems like Windows users are the poor cousins when compared to users of the MacOS.

I only ever got into programming (mid 80’s) because IBM Compatible PC’s offered free and usable tools for programming.

Although I work on Windows, win10 Parallels VM, I think it’s just true that Mac OS is a better operating system. Since you can’t build perfect tools on an imperfect soil, who’s to blame ?

Thanks Joost.

The perverse thing here is that I use Macs everyday for my “real job” as a pre-press professional. In the Printing Industry, Macs have always been more reliable and have had the better software (but now ALL Adobe). So I’ve seen this from the beginning.

I’ve got a version of the Xojo IDE running on a Mac at my work - looks much better - no transparency issues etc.

The software I’m writing is like one would find on a ‘dedicated device’. That is, the computer is just the front end. The software and tethered device will be used in the field. Therefore a portable device, ie. Laptop is required. You can pick up a Win7 laptop very cheap or even for nothing.

It is true indeed that macOS is way more stable and elaborate than Windows. At the expense of developers who constantly have to run behind changes and annual releases.

However, another fact is that macOS does not represent much more than 6% of the desktop market. For better or worse, the immense majority of users are under Windows.

It is true that Windows hardware is much, much less expensive. In particular, Windows tablets come very cheap, and allow running regular Windows programs, far easier to create than iOS ones.

We are fortunate that Xojo works so well cross platform. I am currently working on PC to develop the Android version of my last program, and it is far from being as comfortable.

Is there already a feedback report for this specific problem?
I have the same problem on xojo 2016 r4.1 when I debug on Win 7 and when I run an executable which I compiled on Windows 7.
I see the same problems when I run this executable on win10.

Does anyone know if it makes a difference if you compile on win 10 (or mac) and run on win 7 (or win 10 or Mac)?
I have yet to test these cases …

I doubt compiling on Mac would make much difference. As for myself, I have reverted to 2016R3 for now.

Well, we would need a good reason to revert because we have already made changes regarding retina and it’s possible we’d have to postpone the release of our software. As far I can see R3 still has some issues regarding retina.

Me too. No choice for the project in progress right now.

True, and also some third party controls are not ready yet.

So, chose the least bad solution for the time being and hope next release to come will fix the issues…

We also reverted to R3 due the Windows drawing is now slower and flickers more. :frowning:

Now we reverted to R3 too.

Btw, Joost, “R3 still has some issues regarding retina.” was my line :wink:

Yes I know. I simply don’t use this mode at the moment since I am currently focusing on the business-requirements of my project. But you are right, even for business applications this gets and issue you can’t neglect.

I use R4.1 for Mac, but for Windows, it is not usable IMHO.

Being a non-professional I’m very happy with R3.

It would be nice if “those in the know” post on this forum when these (or some) of the issues - which are essentially aesthetic are resolved.

I love using Xojo, but when you see some of the issues with windows, then see the alternative on MAC-OS, it’s a bit disheartening.

Like I said, I’m only talking about aesthetics, but it does make a difference whether your software “looks” professional - even though the underlying code may not be, but still works :slight_smile:

I have no doubt that Xojo is working actively at solving the issues that present in 2016R4.1.

As for posting when the issues are resolved, we will have to wait for the release of 2017R1.

The difference between Windows and Mac is, this time, related to the huge task of moving graphics to Direct2D, which is specific to Windows.

I made a a movie and example project (based on RTFedit).
I use Xojo 2017r1.1 on Windows 7.

On the background - Xojo 2017 r1.1: not clear at all, changing the ClearType setting has no effect
On the top of the screen - a sentence drawn on a canvas (in the paint-event with Graphics.DrawString): similar to the text in the IDE
At the bottom of the screen - the RTFedit-box: everything is perfect, and the ClearType setting is working as expected.
The text in these 3 cases should look exactly the same

rtfedit-test-font-smoothing.zip
xojo-font-smoothing.avi

I made a new feedback case for this: Case #47932