Cross Platform Font Layout - current workarounds

[Mark Waddingham]

On 2020-08-24 21:49, Sean Cole (Pi) via use-livecode wrote:
> My client provided the font they needed in line with their tv show 
> brand.
> They need the app to work both PC and Mac. It seems I have to manually 
> go
> through each field, button and widget and make sure they are laid out
> properly. The left, right, center alignments don't always match and the
> vertical position certainly never matches.
> https://www.dropbox.com/s/v50aj7uv06bh4d9/MacText.png?dl=0
> https://www.dropbox.com/s/pry5teqp89xzbun/PCText.png?dl=0

I suspect the main issue with vertical alignment here is to do with the 
font.

This very readable article contains the relevant information here as 
well as how the problem can be resolved:

<https://www.williamrchase.com/post/font-height-differences-between-windows-and-mac/>

TL;DR; version - the custom font probably does not have the correct 
settings/tables for use in programs which use the system text engines on 
*both* Mac and Windows.

FWIW, LiveCode fields try to match the way the running platform displays 
text in OS editable fields.

Specifically, text in a field on macOS will look almost the same as that 
in TextEdit; and text in a field on Windows will look almost the same as 
that in WordPad (DPI differences taken into account - LC assumes 72dpi, 
Win assumes 96dpi).

Unfortunately this means you do need to do some work (i.e. scripting) if 
you want to use LiveCode fields in more 'graphical' situations - e.g. as 
the labels on custom buttons.

Warmest Regards,

Mark.

P.S. It is perfectly possible that fettling with the metrics detailed in 
the article above would mean you could achieve identical vertical layout 
on macOS and Windows but it isn't something I have actually tried.

-- 
Mark Waddingham ~ mark at livecode.com ~ http://www.livecode.com/
LiveCode: Everyone can create app