Fwd: CrossPlatform Usability and Text Formatting

[J. Landman Gay]

On 12/3/04 6:54 PM, Anna Shn wrote:

> Hello, 
> 
> I created a Revolution-Dreamcard standalone
> application. I chose OS10 and Windows in the
> Standalone Application Settings but, when I go to a PC
> and open "immunology.exe", I lose all of the text
> [size, style, font, etc] formatting I prepared in the
> OS10 editing version. How can I make an application
> which is truly cross-platform? Is there any way to
> preserve the text formatting when I go to Windows [I already tried changing all the font to Times New Roman, which solved the problem of style but since Times in Windows is slightly different than in OS10, the text was shifted when I tried to run the standalone application on a PC]?

As Richard pointed out, there isn't any 100% effective way to handle the 
differences in fonts between Windows and Macs, but in general it is a 
good idea to set a font that is common between platforms, and then leave 
a good amount of extra room in the size of the field to allow for 
Window's somewhat wider font spacing. Some fonts that are common to both 
Mac and Windows are Times New Roman and Courier; there are others.

Another way that sometimes works is to have a handler check the platform 
that is running, and set the font size in Windows a bit smaller than it 
is on a Mac. You can do this in a preOpenCard handler if the changes 
affect only that card, or do it more generally in a preOpenStack handler 
if the changes need to be widespread. For example, set the textsize to 
12 on Mac and 11 on Windows. You'll want to experiment to see exactly 
how much different the sizes need to be.

-- 
Jacqueline Landman Gay         |     jacque at hyperactivesw.com
HyperActive Software           |     http://www.hyperactivesw.com