[mythtv-users] Need help with FE font problems

Michael T. Dean mtdean at thirdcontact.com
Mon Sep 6 18:00:16 UTC 2010


  On 09/06/2010 12:17 PM, Shocky wrote:
> On September 5, 2010 10:08:12 am Craig Huff wrote:
>> I have my BE/FE set up with a CRT monitor running 1280 x 1024.
>>
>> I have<Option "DPI" "100x100"?>  in my xorg.conf (without the angle
>>   brackets!).
>>
>> Problem #1: Even if I go in to the frontend setup and shrink the fonts
>> to 2, 4, and 6 instead of 6, 8, and 10, the text is too long in
>> numerous places for the whole message to fit.  This appears to be true
>> for all of the themes I have tried, including Terra (Widescreen),
>> MythCenter-wide (Widescreen), and MythCenter.
>>
>> For example, when setting up a recording, in the Schedule Options
>> screen, for the duplicates control, all I can see is "Match duplicates
>> using subtitle&...", "Match duplicates using subtitle th...", etc.
>>
>> What (if anything) haven't I adjusted that will make the entire message
>>   fit?
>>
>>
>> Problem #2: Well, really it may be just an observation/annoyance,
>> unless it bears on Problem #1 above.  When I look at the messages put
>> in the log for mythfrontend, there are a _lot_ of them like the
>> following:
>>
>> 2010-09-05 10:56:51.223 MythFontProperties, Error: Failed to load
>> 'Arial', got 'Liberation Sans' instead
>>                          Location: /usr/share/mythtv/themes/Terra/base.xml @
>>   14 Name: 'baselarge'       Type: 'font'
>> 2010-09-05 10:56:51.228 MythFontProperties, Error: Failed to load
>> 'Arial', got 'Liberation Sans' instead
>>                          Location: /usr/share/mythtv/themes/Terra/base.xml @
>>   18 Name: 'baseextralarge'  Type: 'font'
>>
>> How do I satisfy the failed searching for Arial fonts?
>>
>> Craig.
> I have the same problems, both #1 and #2.
>
> For #1, even in cases where there is lots of room on the screen, it won't use
> it. This seems like a UI layout problem, that the space for the messages is in
> many cases unnecessarily restricted. Not sure if there's any way to fix it
> without redesigning the layout of the problematic screens.
>
> For #2, I can't find a package on Mandriva 2010.0 that provides the MS fonts. I
> know there are other ways to get them. But it makes me wonder, since MythTV is
> Linux based, why not just make it use the Liberation fonts, and not bother
> with the warning. It seems like that should be a simple fix.

The font size controls /only/ affect the non-themed, Qt user interface 
components.  For 0.23-fixes, that basically means it only affects setup 
screens.  The themer chooses what font size to use in "real" MythTV user 
interfaces.

The /real/ problem is that because you did not install the Arial font, 
and the theme author used the Arial font when laying out the screen, you 
don't see the theme as it should be displayed--which is why MythTV is 
yelling at you so much that you are using the wrong font.  Install MS 
core web fonts, as emarkert said, and you'll see the theme TWIWMTBS (The 
Way It Was Meant To Be Seen--with apologies to nvidia).

Note, also, that this is /exactly/ why, "The themer chooses what font 
size to use in "real" MythTV user interfaces."  So, please don't say, 
"It should be a setting."  You already know what happens when the theme 
is designed to use a font of a particular size and spacing and the user 
uses a different font size/spacing (see #1, above :), so you know why we 
have to leave it up to the themer.  :)

The particular buttons you're talking about are an additional problem in 
that those buttons put a ludicrously-long string into a button, so the 
text won't generally fit.  It will fit much better if you use the right 
font, though, so start with that.  Then, if you still don't like what 
you see, be patient until 0.24 is released, since it has some changes to 
make those long button strings more readable.

As far as the use of the non-Free Arial font goes, "fixing" a theme that 
was designed to use one font to use a different font is tantamount to 
redesigning the theme.  So, basically, if you care that much, perhaps 
you should get out your text editor and start working on "fixing" it.  
:)  (Note, also, that you should do any theme development against the 
versions in trunk, since some font usage has changed since 
0.23.x--specifically, in 2 of the 3 themes mentioned above.)

Mike


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