Fonts, please please please
 

I looked at the current todo list and it doesn't included changing/resizing fonts. I've tried everything (all resolutions, ui scale, etc.) and I am not being over dramatic when I say that without some way to improve/enlarge the fonts this addon is just not usable to me :( I literally can't read things. I even tried hand editing the lua files, but, that just created a mess.

Sizing the font's depends on the object you're trying to size. There is a FAQ on the subject at http://www.wowinterface.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=21010

If the object in question is the unit frames or the HUD then the can be fixed by editing the appropriate layout file in [ Interface > AddOns > nUI > Layouts > Default ] or the chat frame can be fixed by using the chat settings interface built into WoW. If the problem is the action bars, you're pretty much screwed as there's no fix for that at this time because the text size is tied to the button size.

For the most part, nUI is designed for use on a 17-22" monitor. Smaller than that and everything it too small, larger than that, it is too big.

Oh, Scott, is changing the type of font to use one of the things you will incorporate as changeable in game ?

If not I was wondering if having say a plugin that utilises Shared Media for those that use it to bring up a selection of fonts and then allow the user to change the 2 fonts you have set aside.

I've done it manually so far to see how my favorite (Emblem) font looks but I can see several questions regarding fonts and was wondering if that change will help alleviate things by allowing them to pick a font that is visibly clearer while not necessarily being bigger.

My biggest problem is the built in nUI buttons, e.g. "Player". "Stats". "Player/Target" pretty much anything on a square red nUI button is almost totally unreadable to me.

Well... it is intended that people be able to change the font using the nUI_L["font1"] and nUI_L["font2"] values, but I hadn't given much thought to expanding on the theme any further than that. It would be possible to allow for a "font = " argument in the the layout tables on an element by element basis to overload the default main font.

Hambil -- what resolution are you playing at and on what size display? If those are blurry, odds are it's because you're playing on a low resolution scaled on a mid-size monitor... those are actually quite readable even on a 17" monitor unless your resolution is very low (which causes a lot of blurring in the graphics when scaled to fit the monitor).

I have found I can use ClearFonts2 and some of the fonts are changed to Calibri on say Bag Item counts, and some quest logs, names above people's heads...but my chat seems small and squished, and some fonts are kind of unusual in size throughout nUI except on the HUD, the HUD looks fine.


I'm using 21" Widescreen w/ 1440 x 900 -- 24 bit color. Not sure if it might be because of the widescreen, but I've just found that the fonts look tall and thin, and sometimes hard to read.

Is there some way we can change it to have nUI not handle the font sizing?

17" monitor in 1280x1024 mode with 24 bit color. I've attached a screen cap, and you can see the nUI fonts are pretty hard to read. Lower resolutions (1024x768) just makes it worse.

o.O

Ummm.... how can nUI not handle the fonts in the elements it displays?

As for the chat font... have you tried using the chat settings to change the font size?

Well... this is kind of the classic "I know it's not perfect, but I don't have a solution to make it better" kind of things. The issue is how Bliz renders the fonts with outlines. If I don't use an outline, it's worse because there's no contrast. If I do use an outline, the outline doesn't scale with the font and you get bleed over. I can't make the font any larger, or the text will flow outside of the widget. If I make the widget bigger, everyone yells at me that the button is too large.

I'm all about solutions, but I honestly don't have one that I can think of atm for that particular problem.

Well, as far as solutions go, the problem may be in the fonts itself. Here is a screen shot of an icehud/kgpanels ui I built which uses some very small fonts but they are quite readable. It uses tekticles.

The Blizz built in fonts are not very good.

I have no problem going with a clean and functional font that is not a Blizzard font. If anyone wants to research various fonts and find a handful that look really good, are clean and above all else are in the public domain, I would be willing to bundle them with nUI and make the changes required to implement them... but they *HAVE* to be public domain as I'm not going to infringe on anyone's copyright - ever.

EDIT: To do this... create a [ Interface > AddOns > nUI > Layouts > Default > Fonts ] directory and install the font in there. Then edit [ Interface > AddOns > nUI > Main > Localization.lua ] (or the appropriate one for your language) and change nUI_L["font1"] and nUI_L["font2"] to point to your new fonts using the path "Interface//AddOns//nUI//Layouts//Default//Fonts//{your font}" (or is it \\ ?) and see how it looks.

In all actuality, outlines shouldn't be used when there is a solid background. Contrast, in that regard, general rule of thumb is light font dark background, dark font light background. You only use the outlines when the background is transparent. .... when the playing world is in the background.

I am experimenting with this with some success. As I get things more refined I will post a screen shot and discuss the details. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

I've attached a screen shot of the modified fonts. I had to tweak a few things besides just nUI_L["font1"] and nUI_L["font2"].

If you think it's a worthwhile improvement I'll post or pm you details - your choice.

True enough... and in the current incarnation of nUI's layouts, there is in fact a solid background behind that button. However... that button is entirely configurable and could just as easily have no background or be sitting on top of a nice piece of graphic art like Havoxx's most recent DK skin... then what?

That's the core of the issue is that I have to make decisions based on what users can do, not just what I have done.

By all means... post away. Better to do it here in the public forum where folks can read over our shoulders.

Isn't a 21" widescreen supposed to use 1680x1050? Monitors, especially widescreens and LCD's distort the hell out of an image if it's not at their recommended resolution. If you are getting tall fonts, this is most likely your issue, you are using a a different resolution than your monitor asks for.

I have -8.5 vision, with astigmatism, so I know if the fonts look like crap, and in this case, I don't think you guys are having an nUI issue, you might want to try changing the font, as outlined here. I use segoeUI for my fonts, and honestly, I never have an issue, and if you look at my textbox, I can't see very well at all. The key is finding the font your eyes are comfortable with, and WoW's default fonts blow, so changing them, as far as I believe, is neccesary.


taken from http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...02350234&sid=1

The hud button is still there, isn't it? Or did I miss something? /confused

I think he refers to the fact that modders can easily go into the code and make the button have a clear background, then the font would be out of place, at least, that's what I think he is referring to.