[WIP] DejaVu Sans Mono as default font crossplatform #42
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…Monaco for mac in s_main.c, bundle font when building mac app and set Info.plist key with font folder; osx-app.sh script now uses included Tk 8.4 Wish by default instead of buggy current 8.5 version on macOS
danomatika
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umlaeute
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how about moving the task of installing fonts into the installer?
i'm pretty sure that NSIS has decent, built-in support for installing fonts properly. |
This is the easiest option, but I think less than optimal, as things like this should just work and not require touching the system on any platform. I'm willing to take a stab at a font loading tcl extension on Windows. If it's too hard/too much of a hassle, then yeah, let's fall back on the installer. |
danomatika
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For comparison on macOS using the included TK 8.4 Wish: Monaco normal (default)
DejaVu Sans Mono normal
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Sure we don`t prefer to fall back to TWAPI? |
We need 3 files from “twapi-bin-4.1.27.zip”: twapi_base.dll (600KB) That will do. |
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To my surprise, DVSM on the Mac is not too different from Monaco... I say that because installing DVSM and calling it on startup did compromise my patches. Let me try this now... |
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well, did compile it and... ok, actually... it does look corrupted after all
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but yeah, comaring that patch doesn't make things look too differently... that's kinda weird to me, why in my coll help file patch the text gets so much wider/stretched?
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Alex did you changed the .tcl? If not you should. Especially for your test. Here is the how-to: https://github.com/pure-data/pure-data/wiki/Crossplatform-font-metrics-&-comparisons |
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no, I didn't, but shouldn't it be a part of the branch/merge request then? |
I don`t know. (surely not) |
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And here: here A screen-shot of your coll-help on OSX. I did that yesterday. |
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i cant see the screenshot, error 404 |
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I edited the above. clik here anyway. |
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looks great, if this is what we get with this merge, and this is how it looks for all platforms, i couldn't be happier :) |
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Try it on your Mac. I updated the link to the HOW-TO and upload your tests: |
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More info on the TWAPI implementation for loading fonts on w32 here: https://lists.puredata.info/pipermail/pd-list/2017-02/117838.html |
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hi, I wonder... is this just about using DejaVu on all platforms, or also about fixing the metrics to the Pd Extended metrics? Cause for now I tried it and although it makes it consistent across platforms, things change when using it on the Mac, and the text gets wider and things may overlap |
For your tests fix the metrics to be as Pd-extended. |
sure, I know, I'm following this... but this doesn't really answer my question yet... will this branch also focus on geting the same metrics as Pd-Extended or not? Cause, for now, you're asking me to do it myself. cheers |
Yes it does, it simply doesn't have that change applied yet. I'm not 100% convinced the smaller boxes make the most sense overall, maybe there are some tweaks needed as a couple patches I have seem too slim where the top of the text overlaps the object border. I'll dig that up later. I'd like to get some feedback from @millerpuckette & @umlaeute in regard to both font & metrics adjustment. |
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jeez, @danomatika is pre-empting my review! get out of my head. now! |
I'm in your time zone now. :) |
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@umlaeute as mentioned in the main issue info, IMO the best approach for Windows is load the font into a Private Font Collection so Tk can see it. It looks pretty simple based on this: http://code.activestate.com/lists/tcl-core/8159/ My initial thought it to build it as a custom Tk extension just for the Pd gui on Windows. I'm not sure it could be built into the C core since it runs as a separate process. In any case, we should do appropriate checks to make sure the font file exists before trying to load it, etc. EDIT: I added some relevant Tcl extension links to the issue info. |
I personally favor normal weight, but I guess anyone could learn to live with one way or another for general patching - so this could be a matter of just getting used to it. On the other hand, when it comes to documentation/help files and tutorials with lots of text, this really jumps to the eye and creates a very polluted environment. Just imagine this whole page of discussion all in bold :) |
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For w32 lets remember that there is something that is working and is very easy: TWAPI: (https://lists.puredata.info/pipermail/pd-list/2017-02/117838.html) |
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Latest commits update the fallback font in the GUI tcl to Monaco on macOS. I've tested with both 8.4 and 8.5. I also added a readme explaining the current font defaults & info on how to try other fonts. |
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Sorry to interject.. Was Monaco chosen over Menlo due to metrics? Afaik, Menlo replaced Monaco as the monospace font de jour on Snow Leopard. |
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I believe Monaco was chosen by extended as it was the closest in size and appearance to DejaVu Sans Mono without having to install anything. I tried Menlo and it doesn't look or size as "good" IMO (or at least to my expectation).
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… On Jul 22, 2017, at 7:59 AM, Paul Rankin ***@***.***> wrote:
Sorry to interject.. Was Monaco chosen over Menlo due to metrics? Afaik, Menlo replaced Monaco as the monospace font de jour on Snow Leopard.
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This is making the windows version crash (on wine at least; that's how I test it). Reverting |
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Strange, the changes to pd-gui.tcl are very minimal. |
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@millerpuckette Also, this PR does not have the font metrics changes, only the font. I have a different branch for that locally. In my testing, there are more tweaks from Pd extended required and I haven't tracked them down yet. |
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I agree - I can't see what difference any of this could make. Maybe this is just wine being unstable somehow. |
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yeah, after an hour of changing things back and forth it started to work. What a bore... |
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I can push the metrics branch later on but, IMO, it's not ready for prime time. This font one is good though. |
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This is a prelim branch with some work regarding the pd-list threads on using DejaVu Sans Mono as the default font across all platforms. My initial recommendation is for a "normal" font weight.
This font is commonly installed on Linux systems but not on macOS or Windows. The default font, as set in s_main.c, for mac is Monaco normal and DVSM bold for Windows & Linux, although I believe it falls back to Courier on Windows from what I can tell in pd-gui.tcl.
See some testing info & further screenshots on this wiki page
macOS
As the macOS build results in a mac .app bundle, the solution is to simply include the font file as an included bundle Resource. This is already done and working in the first commit.
Linux
On Linux, there is no need to distribute the font with Pd as it usually installed and/or can be an install requirement by the distribution's package manager.
Windows
On Windows, the situation is a little trickier. The only option for bundling, it seems, is to use the Windows API to load the font file into a Private Font Collection and then tell Tk about it, otherwise the font has to be installed system-wide (not an ideal option). This could be done using Tcl extensions, like TWAPI, but Pd has historically avoided using anything beyond the base Tcl/Tk.
My initial thought is then to create a tiny, custom Tcl extension that simply calls the Tcl & Win API C code needed to load the font. The pd-gui can then require this custom extension when it starts on Windows. There is no need to build or use this custom extension on any other platform.
Relevant links: