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Subject: Re: FS#12321 - Touchscreen: List line padding, to more easily select lines

Re: FS#12321 - Touchscreen: List line padding, to more easily select lines

From: Thomas Martitz <kugel_at_rockbox.org>
Date: Sun, 09 Oct 2011 00:19:38 +0200

Replying to multiple mails at once...

Am 08.10.2011 12:47, schrieb Jonathan Gordon:
> This will probably be ignored but meh.
> This is the wrong patch for 2 reasons:
> 1) this can already be done in the themes

Whether this is completely true or not, this patch isn't about theming.
It's a usability patch, to make Rockbox usability regardless of the font
or theme or target.

Plus, as others have noted, themes are specific to a target/resolution.
This patch aims to Just Work on all targets, even if there's no theme in
existence.

And even if it can be done in themes. If you only allow this through
themes, then you make them effectively mandatory for usability. Theming
has been an extra feature, not something one depends on. And it makes
you look pretty sad in the fallback case, when there's no theme selected
or even available, leaving you in an unusable state (remember how
impossible Rockbox is to use with sysfont on touchscreen?).

> 2) the only reason this is wanted at all is because Raaa doesnt use
> native lists. The effort shold be put into making native lists work
> (which is trivial once someone figures out how to draw the List in the
> Canvas rockbox uses. androids list api and rockbox's is pretty
> similiar (similar enough that a mostly thin wrapper is all that is
> needed).


Sure, RaaAoA is the most obvious beneficiary of this patch. However,
this is for all touchscreens, not only RaaA(oA). We shouldn't completely
forget about the ondas, or cowon d2s, or Maemo/SDL ports.

> since the theme author will already appreciate what spacing
> works/doesn't work, for that specific device, for that specific theme.

This is exactly what I don't want. I want Rockbox to be usable until (if
ever) someone comes about and makes a usable theme for a specific
device. This patch at least enables navigation when there's no theme at all.


>
> Including this new feature (if it gets committed) we would have three
> ways to change line spacing:
>
> 1. Skinned lists (very flexible, but much work and learning)
> 2. The new setting (less flexible, but quickly does what's needed)
> 3. Generating a font with the desired ascents/descents (much work,
> not flexible)

I didn't think of fonts with lots of ascent/descent. However, I'm not
sure if specially crafted fonts is something we want to recommend. And
they don't work the same, they affect all lines (also in the WPS). The
patch only list lines.

> The automatic setting*can't* currently be done in themes, since
> themes are only resolution dependent, not dpi dependent. Android
> devices have a pretty wide range there...

Right, that's one major idea of the patch.

Best regards.
Received on 2011-10-09

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