Revolution and fonts

[Richard Gaskin]

Alex Rice wrote:

> Here is what Constantine and Lockwood say about HIG and platform
> standards:
> """
> Unfortunately, the field of standards and style guides is riddled with
> potholes and pitfalls. Industry standards are often ignored, even by
> the very software companies that developed them and that call for
> others to adhere to them.

LOL -- my favorite example is the Large Fonts setting in XP:  while the Win
HIG tells you all the silly hoops you should be jumping through to support
customizable font settings, the very control panel where these are set
ignores them. ;)

While I'm no fan of sheep-like adherence to the HIGs we all agree on the
core principles, and one of those is consistency.  While I'd like to think
my app is the only thing the user bought her machine for, in practice most
things we write will comprise a relatively small part of a larger computing
workflow.  The more apps have similar appearances, layout, and behavior, the
easier it is for users to move between apps seamlessly.

With text being such a central element in communication with the user
(undecipherable icons in toolbar fetishisms notwithstanding) it seems
reasonable to at least adhere to the default font settings for each
platform.

Fortunately it's also the easiest solution:  you only need to set two
properties in your mainstack, and you know the fonts are available. ;)

And on most systems, merely setting the textfont to any invalif font name (I
tend to ue "0") will force it to use the default system font, so really the
only platform-specific setting is the textSize.

-- 
 Richard Gaskin 
 Fourth World Media Corporation
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