font smoothing

Getting Started
41

[quote=325776:@hans heiser]Hi Michel,

that’s not the news i wanted to hear, indeed.

Anyway, i can continue to convert/rewrite my programs
from visualbasic to xojo with my available, from xojo
downloaded version (2016r3).

And when i need them (my plan is to switch away from windows
before the windows7 support ends), i will buy a license
and build the applications from my code written till then.
I hope i got that right.

If there’s a version available with unsmoothed fonts
then, i can also start programming other projects with
xojo. If not, i may have to take a look at other
programming languages for future projects.

It depends if 2016r3 is still suitable for future projects.
If only newer xojo versions support my needs and i can’t
use unsmoothed fonts within their code-window - i guess i
have no other choice than look for something else.

And about screen resolution: I’m well aware of HiDPI etc.
My graphics card already supports resolutions up
to 3840*2160 (or even higher). And i have already plans of
switching to another monitor with that resolution.
But that monitor will have a size of 43", that equals to
about 100dpi - like my current model.

I understand there are persons who like HiDPI screens and
font-smoothing. If they’re happy with that - perfect.
But there are also many persons who can’t bear with that.
They can’t read smoothed fonts and get dizzy from trying
to do so. If you search the internet for that topic, you will
find plenty***. And normally that’s no problem at all, you switch
it on or off - whatever you prefer.

Until now i haven’t seen any program wich i couldn’t use with
unsmoothed fonts - ever. So i’m very confident that xojo
will provide a option to use normal, unsmoothed fonts in the
future. I can’t imagine them to abandon all the potential
users who can’t bear smoothed fonts.

regards

*** for example, a fast google search brought up this:
http://annystudio.com/misc/anti-aliased-fonts-hurt/[/quote]
Just out of curiosity… instead of using a super high-res video card/display and then increasing the scale so you can read, have you thought about looking for a video card that can display at lower resolutions?

42

Hi Greg,

i can’t get your point exactly.

To clarify things:

I like to have as much information as possible in sight.
So for example on 25601600 (my current monitor) i can display more information
than on my previous monitor with 19201200. Though i’m even using a second monitor
to display even more data.
Then on a 3840*2160 monitor i can display more information than on my current model.

So why should i go for a graphics card with lower resolution?

That would be the same as getting a monitor with 38402160 and for example 27".
I would have a higher resolution but can’t put more info on it because it’s to small.
Or i use HiDPI Fonts. Then i could display about the same amount of data as on my
current 30". What’s the use?
The ‘normal’ fonts on my monitor are perfectly readable for me.
So if i would upgrade to a (i.e.) 27" monitor with 38402160 i could not display more
information than now and had to bear with (for me) a inferiour font-display.

Don’t get me wrong: I absolutely understand that many persons like
smoothed/HiDPi/antialiased/whatever fonts. And that’s fine for me if they prefer them.
But for me the ‘normal’ font display (without any smoothing etc.) is perfect.
Anything else is a disadvantage for me. It’s harder to read, it affects my
sight, it causes headaches after a while.

Because it seems you know only persons who like the smoothed fonts, i looked up this
article just now to help you get a insight in the problem:
https://room.eiffel.com/blog/manus_eiffel/who_invented_font_smoothing
And there are many persons out there who are like that.

Normally i would not put so much effort in the font-smoothing problem.
If a program wouldn’t fit my needs - i move on to the next.

But i think xojo is a really suitable programming solution for me
and i can’t see any competition around.
Xojo is -aside from some small flaws- a perfect possibility for me to convert
my programs from visualbasic and develop new programs for use with linux
also.

That’s why i put so much effort in finding a solution for the font-problem.

regards

43

The problem is not the resolution nor the display; Xojo does not fully respect the system settings for font smoothing. What is the problem to reproduce this issue?

44

I made a a movie and example project (based on RTFedit).
This 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

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

I made a new feedback case for this: (https://xojo.com/issue/47932)]Feedback Case #47932