Question - Appropriate Font for gbSnippets?

[Gary Beene]

I use the 'Comic Sans MS' font in gbSnippets because I think it is easier to view. It's also the default display font when someone first uses gbSnippets.

However it is not a fixed width font, which means that it's mostly impossible to line up content - such as comments at the end of multiple lines of code. It's also makes it harder to export the source code to HTML when TABs in included in the text.

gbSnippets allows the user to change the display font, but if I align some content visually, then changing fonts messes up the alignment. So I'm thinking of changing the default font to a fixed font and adjust content alignment as needed.

Does anyone has a suggestion on a fixed width font that they consider very readable. One that comes with Windows is appropriate.

Out of the 406 snippets in gbSnippets, there are approximately 30 which would look better if some of the content were visually aligned. If I'm going to switch over to a fixed width font, sooner is better, so I'm looking for font suggestions.

[Michael Mattias]

As far as 'selecting' a font, Courier New (truetype) is installed on all systems. However, the only other monospaced fonts guaranteed available on ALL systems are GetStockObject(%SYSTEM_FIXED_FONT) and GetStockObject (%OEM_FIXED_FONT).

Of course, you can Allways CreateFont[Indirect] to make up a font.

MCM

PS: The four fonts always available are:
Courier New (monospaced)
Times New Roman (proportional, serifed)
Arial (proportional, sans serif)
Symbol (weird stuff)

[Gary Beene]

Hi MCM, and thanks for the response.

So, as best you know, do most editor use one of those three fixe fonts? Or is it common to create one's own font? I haven't done that before but it sounds like a non-trivial effort. But putting it in the resource file to make it readily available would be easy enough.

Do you know what the PowerBASIC IDE uses?

If it's one of GetStockObject(%SYSTEM_FIXED_FONT) and GetStockObject (%OEM_FIXED_FONT), then something like this to use it?

hFont = GetStockObject(%System_Fixed_Font)
Control Set Font hDlg, %IDC_RichEdit,hFont

I'll go give it a try ...

Hmm.... that code works. Both OEM/System look identical as best my eyes can tell.

Ooops ... I see in the IDE Options that I can pick the font for the editor. Mine says "Courier New" right now. The dropdown appears to list all of the fixed-width fonts currently installed on my PC.

Thanks,

[Tom Hanlin]

The latest IDE has a font fallback scheme in place. It tries the user-defined font first, then Courier New, then Courier, and finally drops down to the stock fixed font. This provides for a consistent look on all Windows versions and on Linux with Wine, which has Courier but not Courier New by default.

[Brice Manuel]

and on linux with wine,

:d

[Michael Mattias]

Don't forget.... when you "GetStockObject()" you do NOT "DeleteObject()" as you would with other GDI objects.

And for your users, why not give them a "ChooseFont" dialog?

If you use the right flags in the CHOOSEFONT Structure...

[HINT]

CF_FIXEDPITCHONLY Specifies that ChooseFont should select only fixed-pitch fonts.

[/HINT]

....
MCM

[John Strasser]

:d

Brice,

I just about sprayed coffee all over my monitor when I saw your post...And the thought that popped into my head was...

The player at a D&D Game who pulled out the 1 spell the DM forgot about when designing the uber-monster...

AKA: Smug-Mode ON

[Brice Manuel]

John: Today has been a very bad day. Your D&D reference actually put a smile on my face. Thank you.

[Barry Marks]

I'm not too fussy about which font I read but I think for this a monospaced font is more apropriate.

I've never bothered to change gbsnippets from Comic Sans, although I'm not fond of it for text I want to be able to browse quickly. I do like it in other situations. It doesn't look bad but it's not easy to skim.

Barry

[Gary Beene]

MCM,

The option to change fonts has always been in gbSnippets. It's the default, out of the box font I was thinking about changing.

Brice,
Thanks for the comment. While I find Comic Sans easy to read, the inability to line up exactly has begun to annoy the fool out of me. Plus, I was writing my own export to HTML, which does not support TABs, so fixed width fonts are growing on me.

I use Courier New in the PowerBASIC IDE, so it's not such a big deal to switch over in gbSnippets - you'd think!

[Laurence Jackson]

http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fonts/winxp.htm

Fonts supplied with Windows XP.

MCM's list applies to Windows 95.

[Michael Mattias]

>Fonts supplied with Windows XP.

Thank you for link.... I shall update my notes immediately.