ROM Properties tab uses mix of bitmapped and aliased fonts on Windows

[GerbilSoft]

Issue by vaguerant
Monday Oct 24, 2016 at 07:04 GMT
Originally opened as https://github.com/GerbilSoft/rom-properties.reworking/issues/28

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Windows uses some font with bitmapped glyphs at small font sizes (probably Arial?) by default in Properties dialogues, while rom-properties prefers to use an outlines-only, non-bitmapped font for its monospace text output on the ROM Properties tab. See the Entry Point field in this image.

This is probably not as noticeable/noticeable at all on systems with ClearType enabled (the default on any recent Windows) where the variable-width font will also look aliased, so this is likely a niche issue that only concerns systems where ClearType is disabled.

For reference, monospace, bitmapped fonts that are bundled with most Windows releases include Courier, Courier New, Fixedsys, Lucida Console and MS Gothic. Courier New is probably the one most commonly used/expected by end users, from this list, but I doubt any would be particularly jarring.

[GerbilSoft]

Comment by GerbilSoft
Monday Oct 24, 2016 at 07:06 GMT

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With ClearType enabled, anti-aliasing is enabled for the standard dialog font, so it isn't noticeable in that case.

The solution is to set NONANTIALIASED_QUALITY when creating the monospaced font, but this makes it out of place with ClearType enabled. I'll have to have it dynamically adjust the font depending on the system ClearType setting, and update the fonts if the setting is changed.

[GerbilSoft]

Comment by GerbilSoft
Tuesday Oct 25, 2016 at 02:33 GMT

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Should be fixed by commits a1285e9 and bce6635. If possible, can you compile the latest rom-properties from source and verify that it's fixed? (You'll need cmake and MSVC 2010 or later.)

[GerbilSoft]

Comment by DankRank
Sunday Jan 29, 2017 at 12:03 GMT

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Here's how it looks now without cleartype:

The same image with cleartype enabled, for reference:

Looks like it's fixed.