[mythtv-users] Small Fonts?!?

[Michael T. Dean]

On 11/06/2006 12:41 PM, Tom Lichti wrote:
> Michael T. Dean wrote:
>   
>> On 11/05/2006 08:20 AM, Michael Tiller wrote:
>>     
>>> I was configuring MythTV and I don't know what I did but suddenly some 
>>> of the fonts are really small (on my TV).  In the mythfrontend setup 
>>> (under appearance), I've tried changing the theme, the font scheme 
>>> (big, small, default) and the individual font sizes (defaults were 16, 
>>> 24 and 32 I think) but nothing helped.  Now to be clear, these do 
>>> affect the menu fonts but the problem I'm having is in the recorded 
>>> shows screen.  The names of the shows, the descriptions, etc are all 
>>> very small.
>>>
>>> Anybody have any idea what I could have screwed up?!?
>>>       
>> Upgraded NVIDIA drivers to 8756+?
>>
>>     
>>>   The fonts looked fine at first?!?  What controls these fonts?!?
>>>       
>> http://mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Frequently_Asked_Questions#Q:_All_my_fonts_look_like_they_are_the_wrong_sizes.2C_how_can_I_correct_this.3F
>>     
> What if you already have the DPI set right, and you still have the 
> 'small font' problem, as in my case? It's not a huge deal, I'm just not 
> sure what might be causing the problem.

Either a) your taste in font size is different from that of the theme 
designer's or b) the theme designer created the theme with an improperly 
configured system (that should only be the case with themes that aren't 
packaged with Myth) (or, possibly c) you haven't properly set the 
setting below).

Note, though, that b) will be fixed by the next release of Myth--even if 
the theme designer doesn't use 100x100DPI, the fonts will be the same 
size on his/her screen as on yours.  That means theme designers whose 
DPI settings were incorrect will see what others have been seeing 
(assuming the theme designer uses the theme he/she spent time 
creating).  Because it's "wrong" he/she will be motivated to fix it--or 
to apply the patch that he/she was given by someone who fixed it now 
that he/she understands why it was necessary.  :)

Either way, you can edit the theme itself--the *ui.xml files.  Look for 
"<font>" elements and change the "<size>", "<size:big>", "<size:small>" 
data to values you like.  (There are similar elements in the OSD themes 
in the file "osd.xml".)

Note that which one is used is determined by the setting, "Font 
size"--which gives choices of "default", "small", and "big" (and the 
help text, "default: TV, small: monitor, big")--on the first page of the 
Appearance settings (or like page 9 of the Playback settings for the OSD 
theme font size).  I think, though, that "default" uses "<size>"'s value 
rather than choosing one of "<size:big>" or "<size:small>" depending on 
output device.  One of these days, I'll test it and post a patch, if 
appropriate, that changes the help text.

And, note that some themes don't define values for one or more of the 
sizes.  If you want to (continue to) contribute to Myth's 
development--or if any semi-artistic non-developers want to 
contribute--feel free to define sizes (so that others can change sizes 
with the above controls) for themes in the official distribution that 
don't define all three and then make and post patches.  :)  Having a 
small, default, and big font size for every theme in the distribution 
would make the "Font size" setting much more "intuitive" for users (who 
often change it and see no effect because the theme they're using 
doesn't define some of the sizes).

Mike