Created attachment 103854 [details] screenshot 4.2.x vs. 4.4.x I've noticed that the Start Center green sidebar is narrower and have very small font size if compared to previous releases. see attached screenshot... apart from the different UI localization, you will see reduced width and smaller font size. one could argue that the font size in 4.2.x was too large, anyway the current shrinking that has been done in 4.4.x looks too much too me and uneasy to read. maybe it was intended to uniform the font size of the sidebar to that of the "File, Tools, Help" menus in the menubar. anyway IMHO this is too small, maybe we should consider to enlarge it again at an intermediate size between 4.2.x and 4.4.x
tested under Win7x64 using Version: 4.4.0.0.alpha0+ Build ID: 9f803ee4b64e11e481ae9bf92ffac7cbf568675a TinderBox: Win-x86@42, Branch:master, Time: 2014-07-28_06:27:11
This was recently fixed, as text size on OS X was disturbingly large. Previous situation was a lot worse I say.
as said before, probably the best situation would be in the middle, smaller than 4.2.x but larger than 4.4.x... maybe just a 20-30% font increase would be enough. if font size is not going to be changed we should also consider to use bold fonts like in 4.2.x instead of thin regular fonts like in 4.4.x to improve readability. just my 2 cents.
I was thinking of reporting this issue myself a few days back. :) This effects both 4.3.1 and 4.4 alpha. I agree that somewhere in the middle would be good, like tommy suggested.
Ok, I set status to NEW since it seems I'm not the only one disliking this very small font size. let's see what the UX team thinks about.
Folks, as Emir points out, recent chages were done as previously it was very bad on OSX. The work to add adjustable text weights and sizes was done by Caolán and Michael M. on bug 80476 -- Start Center sidebar button labels are too large and vary in size on different operating systems work on backingwindow.cxx Those commits probably need additional attention. Adding Michael and Caolán.
Why did you add ux-advise? Triagers, please spam that list properly, with actual UX requests, not obvious bugs such as this one.
Okay... To set the facts straight, green frame text size is not small, it is the standard text size of the application, and it is the way it should be. Let me tell you why, First, for the sake of visual consistency, all (clickable or not) texts within one application should be the same size. If not, it will look like some student project of some kind (no offense to GSOC students). Please show me any professional grade application with varying font sizes. Secondly, Start Center IMHO still cares about marketing, more than functionality. Green Sidebar is also something very rare to see, although it is understandable for marketing reasons, still looks very bling bling. For that reason there is no reason to put BIG fonts to make it even less professional. So I propose to close this bug as WONTFIX. If someone needs bigger text sizes, OS accessibility settings will provide that I think. Also, instead of these small things, we should concentrate more on actual UX and design problems I think.
as said in comment 3 I think that bold fonts would be probably be enough to improve readibility even without enlarging the font size itself
(In reply to comment #8) > Please show me any professional grade application with varying font sizes. As you asked for one, here is one: Word 2013 http://www.word-2013-tutorials.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/welcome-screen.jpg http://www.kalliance.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/word-2013.jpg
(In reply to comment #10) > (In reply to comment #8) > > Please show me any professional grade application with varying font sizes. > > As you asked for one, here is one: Word 2013 > > http://www.word-2013-tutorials.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/welcome-screen. > jpg > http://www.kalliance.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/word-2013.jpg Right, but it is proportional and has good balancing within frames. Also except the header, biggest font there looks smaller from previous Start Center font (judging from mobile screen). LibreOffice doesn't have the developer power to reach this level of professional design, if someone can, I am all on for previous font size. Also I should have said proportional from the beginning, sorry about that.
Caolan McNamara committed a patch related to this issue. It has been pushed to "master": http://cgit.freedesktop.org/libreoffice/core/commit/?id=04b02f2f5a4f71198e0cb616404c4721c918afe6 Resolves: fdo#82043 use a bold font for the start-center buttons The patch should be included in the daily builds available at http://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More information about daily builds can be found at: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.
Lets give bold a go first. Let me know how that grabs you.
tested with 4.4.0.0.alpha0+ Build ID: 57dcc9f3e9a7d2ebc86cf444729a7a08820418a1 TinderBox: Win-x86@39, Branch:master, Time: 2014-08-08_00:45:46 I'm happy with bold font. I set status as FIXED.
Looks neat as well.
Created attachment 104325 [details] Highlighted the very noticable instances Bold does make it slightly better, but i've noticed that some letters are to close to the next, so is it possible to add even 1 or 2 extra spacing pixels between letters.
Created attachment 104375 [details] After switching to Bold I think I've changed my mind. Here there is a comparison, Normal weight seems much better.
Yep normal weight is better, similar to how it used to be. What is really needed is the increase of the font size by maybe 2 points.
http://cgit.freedesktop.org/libreoffice/core/commit/?id=8288aaa59a7df3f3632e98e824aef29a25b96b47 After all of this series of changes, nobody can accuse LibreOffice of not listening to its users, who may not now what they actually want…
Hah - of course, this really should be an easy hack, and not a series of star hackers; but - why was it a MAB in the begginning ? who can say ?
Created attachment 105514 [details] LibO 4.3.0 vs 4.3.1 It would be great if this was backported to 4.3, because unfortunately the small text got into 4.3.1.2, as stated in comment 3, and in the arabic UI its quite hard to see a number of the letters properly.
The removal of bold and the 1.4f multiplier applied to master with http://cgit.freedesktop.org/libreoffice/core/commit/?id=8288aaa59a7df3f3632e98e824aef29a25b96b47 now looks about right working in Windows 7 sp1, 64-bit en-US Version: 4.4.0.0.alpha0+ Build ID: 32ce5ae15a8f156b4681c36d248b6731df3457c6 TinderBox: Win-x86@42, Branch:master, Time: 2014-08-25_01:27:12 @Kendy, *, could we go ahead and back port for 4.3.2?
This would need to be backported to both 4.3.2 and 4.3.3, as 4.3.2.1 has just been issued.
Created attachment 106197 [details] Sidebar - font multiplier LibO 4.3.2.1 vs 4.4.0alpha+ See attached image comparing sidebar 4.3.2.1 vs current 4.4.0alpha+ on Windows A backport of adjusted multiplier has yet to make it to the 4.3.2.1 build, think it would be very useful if it did. Any 3 devs agree?
Created attachment 106203 [details] Sidebar in Windows Without the bold font the sidebar is barely readable due to the low contrast. Text in sidebar needs to be bold.
@Urmas, *, (In reply to comment #25) > Without the bold font the sidebar is barely readable due to the low contrast. > Text in sidebar needs to be bold. We've been down this road... using bold just looked ugly for the month it was in place, and the non-bold as currently in 4.3.x remains at the wrong proportion. Upping the multiplier from 1.2 --> 1.4 brings the font to a better proportion to the icons (possibly could use an additional half a percent or so, i.e. 1.45 or 1.5) but it has been that way in the 4.4.0alpha+ builds for several weeks--no complaints. From a design perspective, it looks composed. The low contrast (white on green) is not really an issue--the ODF Icons identify the rolls, the subdued text "label" just help identify the branding. Proportion was the only issue. Stuart
Patch submitted for 4.3 - https://gerrit.libreoffice.org/#/c/11651/1
Yousuf Philips committed a patch related to this issue. It has been pushed to "libreoffice-4-3": http://cgit.freedesktop.org/libreoffice/core/commit/?id=c0cb2dc6a6bc539f4cdad2bc54cbbde29c69ea7e&h=libreoffice-4-3 fdo#82043: Instead of the bold font, use a higher multiplifier (4.3 backport) It will be available in LibreOffice 4.3.3. The patch should be included in the daily builds available at http://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More information about daily builds can be found at: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.
(In reply to comment #27) > Patch submitted for 4.3 - https://gerrit.libreoffice.org/#/c/11651/1 Thanks Jay, (and Caolán). Wow Jay, that's a half dozen commits now. At what point does your role change from designer/qa to dev? Pretty soon we're going to start expecting that you also code your GUI/UX suggestions--I'm just kidding. And again a thank you for everything you've been contributing. Stuart
(In reply to comment #29) > Wow Jay, that's a half dozen commits now. At what point does your role > change from designer/qa to dev? Pretty soon we're going to start expecting > that you also code your GUI/UX suggestions--I'm just kidding. And again a > thank you for everything you've been contributing. Wouldnt really call changing a few xml files or changing a number, when it is already changed in master, real dev work. Dont have any c++ skills, so my dev work will be quite limited. :)