 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Java Forum / General / April 2007The Scale problem
I wrote about this problem many years ago as something I saw looming. Now its has arrived. http://mindprod.com/jgloss/resolution.html I have a new big high-res monitor and my Applets have shrunk to pin pricks with unreadably small type. People used to tease me for my outsized fonts and generous layouts. Now even they are far too small. How do you go about writing apps that will be readable on a wide variety of screens? I know JGoodies has some tools for resolution independent layout.. But I was wondering what could be done to existing apps that did not take a major rewrite. I can live with icons not being scaled. This needs to be builtin to Java so that when the user tells one app/Applet his desired zoom, it will automatically apply universally. -- Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products The Java Glossary http://mindprod.com > I wrote about this problem many years ago as something I saw looming. > Now its has arrived. http://mindprod.com/jgloss/resolution.html [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > The Java Glossary > http://mindprod.com ummmmm as far as readibility goes, I figure you should still be able to read stuff. Why? because it IS high res. Most of us actually do want to fit more on our screens (at least I do) so,smaller yet still readable is a good thing... I use to draw alot of circuit board layouts yonks ago when montiros were crappy. Onscreen the tracks and pads often looked like they touched, yet when printed and according to specs, obviously they were fine. I'm sure a high res monitor at the time would have showed smaller, yet more reailistic image representations ie... pads and tracks would have appeared not to touch (on screen) as they should have been. R e a l e m a i l : t a n e @ m u g w h y .c o m > I wrote about this problem many years ago as something I saw looming. > Now its has arrived. http://mindprod.com/jgloss/resolution.html [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > The Java Glossary > http://mindprod.com I think it will soon be a really big problem. The new high resolution monitors are almost impossible to use for the user interface. I just did a big job that used a bunch of 1600x1200 resolution displays. We still had to have one monitor that was 1024x768 so we could display the GUI at a size that the user could read. Java needs a feature to scale the windows and their components so they are readable on high res monitors. It is unfortunate that Java sizes components by pixel rather than by physical dimension. The 1600x1200 displays are difficult enough but what is it going to be like when the monitors are 4000x3000?  SignatureKnute Johnson email s/nospam/knute/ Roedy Green wrote: > Knute Johnson wrote: >> I wrote about this problem many years ago as something I saw looming. >> Now its has arrived. http://mindprod.com/jgloss/resolution.html ... >I think it will soon be a really big problem. .. The mention in Roedy's page of PLAF's, got me to wonderring what could be done for 'poor old AWT'. Here is my 1st hackish attempt at producing a text size in an AWT based (TextArea/Label) applet, that adjusts according to the font size used for the HTML. <http://www.physci.org/test/textsize/> So far I have only seen it work for IE on one screen size. Does it work for you? (I want the details listed in the table at the bottom, ideally.) * If this technique were to be used for an AWT based GUI with many components, it would probably be better to iterate the available components, rather than explicitly code them as I did in this example. For Swing, the 'size aware' PLAF would obviously be the best tactic to pursue. > Roedy Green wrote: >> Knute Johnson wrote: [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > size. Does it work for you? (I want the details listed > in the table at the bottom, ideally.) Works nicely in Firefox 2.0.0.3 with JRE 1.5.0_11 SignatureDag. > Here is my 1st hackish attempt at producing a > text size in an AWT based (TextArea/Label) [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > size. Does it work for you? (I want the details listed > in the table at the bottom, ideally.) Works well for me. Internet Explorer, 6.0.2800.1106, Sun, 1.6.0, 1440x900, 11px to 19px Mozilla Firefox, 2.0.0.3, Sun, 1.6.0, 1440x900, 9px to 167px(!) SignatureRegards, Richard > Andrew T. wrote >> Here is my 1st hackish attempt ... .. >Internet Explorer, 6.0.2800.1106, Sun, 1.6.0, 1440x900, 11px to 19px I am a little dissapointed to hear that IE shows the same values as for a significantly smaller (1024x768) screen. Is the HTML and applet text roughly the same size? (It is in my tests.) >Mozilla Firefox, 2.0.0.3, Sun, 1.6.0, 1440x900, 9px to 167px(!) That is enormous! Does the applet force horizontal scrollbars before it hits this huge size? Thanks for the details - I'll update the page. SignatureAndrew Thompson http://www.athompson.info/andrew/ >> Andrew T. wrote >>> Here is my 1st hackish attempt ... [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > screen. Is the HTML and applet text roughly the > same size? (It is in my tests.) Roughly but not exactly. Using Arial as the default browser font, which seems the closest match to the sans-serif of the applet, I would estimate: Smallest: applet shows 11px (slightly smaller); browser I guess is 12px Smaller: looks the same Medium: applet shows 14px (slightly smaller); browser I guess is 15/16px Larger: applet shows 17px (slightly smaller); browser 18-20px and bold Largest: applet shows 19px (slightly smaller); browser 20-22px both bold >> Mozilla Firefox, 2.0.0.3, Sun, 1.6.0, 1440x900, 9px to 167px(!) > > That is enormous! Does the applet force horizontal > scrollbars before it hits this huge size? Scrollbars appear in the main browser window, not in the applet. The applet just gets proportionally bigger. The maximum font size shown by the applet, but not the minumum, depends on the default font in Firefox. If I set the default font to 9pt, I only ;) get up to 125px in the applet. If I set the default to 72pt, it goes from 9px to a billboard-tastic 1002px! At that size, the string "px." completely fills my 1440x900 screen! Something else I did notice was that, when the applet is so large that the paragraph to the right of it can't flow around it and has to go below, the right-hand edge of the applet sticks out of the yellow box. I suspect it's a browser/stylesheet issue - maybe to do with the margin of the yellow box. If I get it to about 30px and bring the right edge of the browser window in, the margin to the right of the yellow box pushes the yellow box in until the applet hangs out of the box, then the browser starts clipping the box and applet. SignatureRegards, Richard > >Mozilla Firefox, 2.0.0.3, Sun, 1.6.0, 1440x900, 9px to 167px(!) The min size is probably limited by the configuration in the Preferences->Content->Fonts & Colors pane. Using 2.0.0.2 I can't go below 12px, but I can go up to 194px. Occasionally the applet gets cropped, not resized when first increasing the size and then going back to the minimum size. Then the 12px applet is sometimes cropped. The problem with high-res monitors is not only with text sizes. Widgets like scrollbars also become quickly unusable. The Substance PLAF can already handle this and scale widgets. And Java 7 is supposed to scale, too. If Sun doesn't screw up once again. >Roedy Green wrote: >> Knute Johnson wrote: >>> I wrote about this problem many years ago as something I saw looming. >>> Now its has arrived. http://mindprod.com/jgloss/resolution.html >... >>I think it will soon be a really big problem. .. .. >Here is my 1st hackish attempt at producing a >text (re)size in an AWT based (GUI).. ..and here is Swing (same caveats) <http://www.physci.org/test/textsize/swing.html> Particularly interested to hear any results for Opera, always had trouble with that (damnable) browser, or other non 'big 2' UA's (Safari, Konquerer, TenCentTraveller(?), Lynx, .. ;). SignatureAndrew Thompson http://www.athompson.info/andrew/ Free MagazinesGet these publications absolutely FREE for up to 12 months. There are no hidden fees and no obligation. Simply choose a title, complete the application form and submit it. Read more ...
|
Reply to this Message
|
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.