Could you be so kind to use english ? Thanks in advance.

Translation:

The default font size in Netbeans is 11 pts. However, a Chinese font (normally
takes 10.5 or 12 pts --Me) looks very ugly in this size. So, how about you guys
change the default font size to 12 or bigger when you release the Chinese
version, and set the default font face name as Song Ti (宋体, a popular font in
Chinese). This will make the editor looks very pretty.

weijun,
thanks for translation.

In nb localized for Chinese (simplified), the default font is set to be
14 to avoid this situation.  Are you running the localized netbeans ?
If so, then we need to check to make sure this is still being set for
localized.

But I think if you use --fontsize option to start the ide, that will solve the
problems in any case.  

As for font, we use logical jdk font names and let jdk map to the actual font
per locales and per OS.  I don't know if there is way to override this
in netbeans or in jdk.

Am not sure if a global RFE like this should be done unless its clear that
its going to be ok with any user who might use non localized nb in Chinese
locale.

ken.frank@sun.com

pleae read the interrelated issue #50648
http://www.netbeans.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=50648

there is another issue about the default font in Chinese version.  when the
netbeans was installed on a chinese windows
system, the default mono spaced font will be changed to "SimSun & NSimSun "
font, hence all the text on the interface of
ide (including the menu text and output window ) will be changed to SimSun
font. but the embedded English font in Simsun
are not practical for programming, it is also very ugly. The method described
below will change the default mono spaced
font on Chinese platform to Courier New font.

1. find JDK_HOME/jre/lib/fontconfig.properties.src,  make a copy of it, and
rename the copy to "fontconfig.properties"

2. find line including 
"sequence.monospaced.GBK=chinese-ms936, alphabetic,dingbats,symbol"

changed it to 

"sequence.monospaced.GBK=alphabetic,chinese-ms936, dingbats,symbol"

now restart the netbeans, the default ui font will be "Courier New"

this method works for all swing based program, not only netbeans

However, there are still  several problems with the default Mono spaced font "
Courier New"

1, there is no slash in number "0" 
2. can hardly tell the difference between letter "l" and number "1"

So I wonder that if u can changed the default mono spaced font  to another
type, or include one font in the JDK.

Thanks 

Idandego,

here are some questions that can help us evaluate it more:

1. is the problem you are seeing for editor or for all of ide ?

2. if you start ide with --fontsize 14 or 16 option,  does it help (or even
fontsize 12) ?
(in other times, the problem was that with larger size, the fonts did show ok
but not at default 11 pt of ide)

3. changing the jdk props file is something that could be tricky for some users
and also if not done correctly, could cause jdk not to operate ok, so suggest
we find
some other ways to solve it.


4. when you use nb6, in the properties, fonts and colors from tools->options,
if you select some other fonts there, does it help at least in the editors ?

5. what platform(s) do you see the problem on ?

ken.frank@sun.com

NetBeans uses 'monospaced' in its output and editor windows. 'monospaced' is a
logical jre font which maps to different
physical font on different os platform. 'monospaced' is mapped to 'Courier New'
on English Windows, which is nice for
programming and console output. However, on Chinese Windows, 'monospaced' is
mapped to 'SimSun(宋体)' or 'NSimSun(新宋
体)', which is good at displaying Chinese characters, but very bad at displaying
latin characters. 'SimSun' renders
latin characters much smaller than 'Courier New' with the same font size. That
is why so many Chinese developers are
complaining about the font.
Simply setting a larger font size in etc/netbeans.conf or using tools-option
does not effect a radical cure. And many
developers are not even willing to do these changes themselves. They want it
ready simply out of the box.
Idandego's solutions is a good way to give a radical cure. In fact, I have a
blog entry discussing about the
changing-jre-font-mapping solution here: 
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4b6047bc01000boz.html
But it moves the hard part from configuring netbeans to jdk font. How many
people are there who knows how to do it?
So I suggest using another logical font for the output and editor windows (of
course only) in Chinese netbeans. In fact,
'DialogInput' is a better choice than 'monospaced'. In Chinese locale, java
maps the latin characters of 'DialogInput'to
  'Courier New' while the Chinese characters to 'SimSun'/'NSimSun'. That's a
perfect match! 
With this solution, we don't need to file an RFE to Java SE nor require the
miserable developers following any
configuration steps. The developers deserve it out of the box. Eclipse users
never bother to change the editor font.
They take it for granted and consider eclipse superior than netbeans only
because they think eclipse is more beautiful.
In fact it is only font configuration issues. But that's how human judges
others, not by merits but by appearance!

Rhete,

thanks for the further explanation.

if you change the nb6 editor font options to dialoginput, does it help at least
in the editor ?
(I realize the granularity of the font properties is by element type, not for
all of a given
editor, like for java; I think having a global font choice at least or editor
could
be helpful feature in itself).

as to changing the logical font to dialog input for users in Chinese locales
(or at least on windows),
that is something that can be looked at, and perhaps even an option for it via
properties
or command line for those who might not want to have it could be provided.

ken.frank@sun.com

in context of last comment - asking if you can try to change the editor fonts
to DialogInput --

to change default font for editors,
in the options->fonts and colors

a. choose the profile at the top - netbeans is the one for nb6 I believe

b. choose from the lanaguage dropdown - all languages

c. choose the Default category and change that font name/size.

that will then become the default for all other language/category choices, and
one can
further customize editors using that font as the default.

ken.frank@sun.com

kfrank,

Yes, of course it helps when you change the font in the option dialog. What I
mean is that developers want this setting
to  be out of the box. Many Chinese developers and I DO KNOW how to config the
font, no matter by etc/netbeans.conf or
by options dialog or by jdk font properties. The problem is with the newbies.
If you want more developers to use
netbeans, that is what they complain about netbeans because of the initial
ignorance. If he is one of your friends, it's
OK and you can help him. But what if those developers who are moved by the
netbeans show yet however have no friends
around who are prefessional in netbeans? 
I myself as well as hundreds of others who know this, have written tons of
articles explaining how to do this. But it
doesn't help much since our articles are only read by a limited number of
people. So I say for the sake of those inocent
developers who want to join but might be frightened or mislead by the first
apearance, let them have it out of the box.
Let those Eclipse trumpet about their beautiful look fading away because of
this, AT LEAST in China.
As I said, I've proved the validity by switching the default monospaced font to
DialogInput, both by options dialog and
jdk font properites. So I suggest you guys switch from monospaced font to
DialogInput only for Chinese version. And they
will be in effect both in the editors and the output windows.

lets file a separate issue on this - this issue is about font size but it seems
that
its really to have default ide font, or at least editor font, be DialogInput
when user
in zh_CN locale (not sure about zh_TW) or at least provide a simple startup
option
for doing it.  (or a startup option not to do it if default should be to use
the DialogInput.

lets leave this issue as is since it still might be valid, although for
changing just font
size its easy to do with --fontsize option.

but to change the font itself one needs to change font props in editor.

Rehte, could you file such an issue ? It will be helpful to have it filed by
community users
who know about this and feel strongly that it is needed and also who can vote
on it as well.

Rehte, if you file it, please add I18N - to synopsis line, add I18N keyword and
add kfrank
to cc list; I'll be glad to file it if thats better.

ken.frank@sun.com

I've created a new one:
http://www.netbeans.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=113691

moving opened issues from TM <= 6.1 to TM=Dev

Yes, changing default font size for chinese locales should be simple. Can you
all help me and tell me for which locales
specifically should I increase default font size and to which value? Thank you.

Dafe,

I think this one might be closable because:

if its not about editor, --fontsize will work

also, I think localized for simplified chinese hardcodes font to 14, although
that does not help other chinese locales
or users who dont use localized

rfe 113691 covers this issue if its about the editor only; seems that a more
general solution than just for
one specific locale could be helpful however.

114017 rfe refers to having option or property for setting font of entire ide
except for editor, which follow
editor font choices

Can you look at 2 issues mentioned and see, and comment in those also - and if
some other issue is needed to clarify
about all this (since other ones are very long), let me know and I can file.

ken.frank@sun.com