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Bug 83038 - Default fontsize on Mac is too big
Summary: Default fontsize on Mac is too big
Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX
Alias: None
Product: platform
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Window System (show other bugs)
Version: 5.x
Hardware: Macintosh (x86) Mac OS X
: P2 blocker (vote)
Assignee: Milos Kleint
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2006-08-19 03:12 UTC by igorminar
Modified: 2008-12-22 22:57 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

See Also:
Issue Type: DEFECT
Exception Reporter:


Attachments
default fontsize (444.22 KB, image/png)
2006-10-17 20:25 UTC, igorminar
Details
--fontsize 13 (441.37 KB, image/png)
2006-10-17 20:26 UTC, igorminar
Details
--fontsize 12 (438.45 KB, application/octet-stream)
2006-10-17 20:27 UTC, igorminar
Details
--fontsize 11 (433.38 KB, image/png)
2006-10-17 20:28 UTC, igorminar
Details
--fontsize 10 (431.28 KB, image/png)
2006-10-17 20:28 UTC, igorminar
Details

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Description igorminar 2006-08-19 03:12:06 UTC
It seems that --fontsize value for netbeans on Mac is 12. When I run
NetBeans.app, the ide starts with fonts that are much bigger than any other Mac
application. 

I suggest setting --fontsize to 10 by default in Mac builds.
Comment 1 igorminar 2006-08-19 05:54:11 UTC
Actually it seems that --fontsize 11 is the closest to the the rest of the MacOS
environment
Comment 2 David Simonek 2006-10-16 11:49:32 UTC
Milos can you pass to abybody who can take care of default Mac setting? Thanks.
Comment 3 jrojcek 2006-10-16 16:57:15 UTC
Yes, it looks like the font is bigger.

Tim, do you have an idea why it's bigger?
Comment 4 _ tboudreau 2006-10-17 17:46:30 UTC
In 3.6 we used the same small font sizes that we use on Windows, etc.  People
complained that (bug report somewhere) this was not the native font sizes in the
UI for other Mac OS applications.  So for 4.0 I took out the code that set the
font sizes - so it will just get whatever Swing on Mac OS uses.  :-)

I agree they're big - I personally would prefer smaller;  on the other hand,
they're consistent with the rest of the desktop.

It is worth noting that other IDE's, IIRC even Apple's, use smaller fonts than
the standard big Mac OS desktop font.  So it might not be unreasonable to set
the fonts smaller.  IDEs are pretty demanding of screen real-estate.  

I don't think anything we do will make everyone happy :-/
Comment 5 _ tboudreau 2006-10-17 17:51:39 UTC
Now, if they're, as suggested, *not* consistent with the desktop, then something
is wrong (last I knew no font size setting code should be running during startup
on Mac OS).  

igorminar:  When you say the --fontsize setting is set to 12, do you mean you've
found someplace where it is explicitly being set, or just that the fonts you see
are 12 point?

I haven't maintained this code in a while, but it *should* just pick up whatever
font is provided by UIManager.get ("controlFont") for most of the UI.

Also, 12 point being bigger than the rest of applications on the desktop doesn't
entirely make sense to me - 12 point is pretty small, and historically Mac OS
uses 13 or 14 point fonts on the desktop.  

AFAIK there is no way to globally set the ui font size for the entire OS in Mac
OS - I've tried to find something like that quite a bit for a family member with
eyesight problems.
Comment 6 igorminar 2006-10-17 20:24:42 UTC
When I said that the defaul setting is --fontsize 12, I meant that if I run
netbeans with or without fontsize set to 12 it looks the same. 

I've just took some screenshots with different fontsizes and compared them and I
see that I was wrong and that the default setting is --fontsize 13

I agree with the opinion that IDEs are screen space demanding and since most of
the apps for Mac use smaller font size than 13 anyway I don't think that font
size consistency is an issue here.

I'll attach the screenshots I took.
Comment 7 igorminar 2006-10-17 20:25:45 UTC
Created attachment 35301 [details]
default fontsize
Comment 8 igorminar 2006-10-17 20:26:33 UTC
Created attachment 35302 [details]
--fontsize 13
Comment 9 igorminar 2006-10-17 20:27:19 UTC
Created attachment 35303 [details]
--fontsize 12
Comment 10 igorminar 2006-10-17 20:28:01 UTC
Created attachment 35304 [details]
--fontsize 11
Comment 11 igorminar 2006-10-17 20:28:57 UTC
Created attachment 35305 [details]
--fontsize 10
Comment 12 _ tboudreau 2006-10-18 00:22:42 UTC
Interesting.  It looks like the NB-default.png screen shot might be one point
size larger than the font shown in the Finder window.

The font NetBeans is, for better or worse, supposed to be picking up from
Apple's Swing impl is the same font used in Finder in Mac OS.  

iTunes and some other apps on Mac OS do use a smaller font, so I think there is
a reasonable precedent for reducing font size on Mac OS.  I know I'd prefer it
smaller - the only question is whether that will make a bunch of other people
scream that it looks non-native.
Comment 13 Milos Kleint 2006-10-18 07:45:29 UTC
if we use the default fonts that apple's jdk considers correct, then we should
keep it that way. please file a bug in apple's bug tracking system if you think
the default font should be changed.