[mythtv-users] Merge of OSD and Main themes causes WAF to Plummet

Andre mythtv-list at dinkum.org.uk
Mon Feb 28 16:20:57 UTC 2011


On 28 Feb 2011, at 15:12, Dan Armbrust wrote:
> 
> that a theme designer can pick an appropriate font size for large and
> small tvs, young and old eyes, CRTs/LCDs/Plasma, personal
> preferences.... its just a bad decision.

I'd say that the real issue is we need a couple of versions of themes, there are currently 4:3 and 16:9 versions of themes like Mythcenter, you could argue "why doesn't Myth convert 16:9 to 4:3?" the same reasoning applies here, if the designer works with a fixed frame shape the results are better.

Are there any theme designers willing to make small screen or large screen versions of their themes, or allow others to do so?
This way the design can retain it's artistic integrity and please those with smaller TVs or older eyes. It seems the first theme designer to address this will be very very popular!

>  The only reason I've ever
> heard it "its better this way" cause "users can't break our pretty
> themes".  Well, maybe the display engine should be smart enough to
> cut/wrap/scroll elements as necessary.
> 
> I mean, seriously.   Show me even _one_ other graphical system, where
> fonts can not be adjusted independently of themes.  Windows?  Linux?
> Mac?

Have you ever seriously used this feature in Windows, Linux (Gnome or KDE) or Mac? If you had you would know that the results are naff at the very best, I regularly use all three of these on very very high resolution screens and the scaling is disastrous. It's extremely common to be unable to read menu's, error messages and in many cases crucial buttons are completely missing! Windows 7 is much better than previous versions but a large percentage of applications are totally broken the moment you make any adjustment to display scaling or font sizes, OSX is usable provided you stick to scaling within application windows rather than system wide.

I have a programmer friend with an eye condition such that he buys the biggest screens available but he's still running at low resolutions with the display scaling because the OS support for scaled fonts and window furniture is so terrible. If any of that stuff worked he'd be on it like a shot, btw he's also a Myth user and I've never heard a squeak from him about font readability, he does have a rather large TV and has never seen the need for HD, oddly enough!

If this is the sort of thing you want to see on screen in Myth I suggest you install 0.22, go play with the font sizes and stay there. I for one think the devs are heading in the right direction with the renderer, yes there may be problems to address but reverting to the bad old ways isn't the right answer.

I've been in the middle of this same argument in various TV sports graphics projects, a different design is required for SD v HD, 4:3 v 16:9 and if you factor in digital cinema clients at one extreme, small screen handhelds (Kangaroo TV, DVB-H/3G phones etc.), very low resolution "big screen" displays dotted around the venue at the other there is no way on earth the same graphic design can accommodate all of these without significant adaption by the artist, winding up the font size just doesn't do it.

Andre




More information about the mythtv-users mailing list