Hi:
Ubuntu was carrying a "hildon" patch to make the bluetooth-properties application fit on smaller form factors for lpia. We've adapted the patch to be applicable to all platforms. It changes the layout of the bluetooth-properties window to be better for small displays without a loss of functionality.
Regards
Mario Limonciello
Dell | Linux Engineering
[email protected]
On Mon, 2008-09-29 at 11:07 +0200, Marcel Holtmann wrote:
> Hi Mario,
>
> > Ubuntu was carrying a "hildon" patch to make the bluetooth-properties application fit on smaller form factors for lpia. We've adapted the patch to be applicable to all platforms. It changes the layout of the bluetooth-properties window to be better for small displays without a loss of functionality.
>
> I have no idea what this patch tries to achieve. How will this save
> space on small displays?
A before/after screenshot would be useful indeed. If it's a good layout,
it should probably be used by default.
Hi Mario,
> Ubuntu was carrying a "hildon" patch to make the bluetooth-properties application fit on smaller form factors for lpia. We've adapted the patch to be applicable to all platforms. It changes the layout of the bluetooth-properties window to be better for small displays without a loss of functionality.
I have no idea what this patch tries to achieve. How will this save
space on small displays?
Regards
Marcel
On Wed, 1 Oct 2008, David Sainty wrote:
> xdpyinfo says the DPI is 100x101... heh...
>
> dimensions: 800x480 pixels (203x121 millimeters)
> resolution: 100x101 dots per inch
>
> In reality it's around 133dpi (153mm x 92mm).
I'm sure the erratic sizing comes from nonuniform font selection.
I had endless trouble printing web pages from a Dell Inspiron 6400
(1680x1050px, 128dpi if I remember right, Opera browser) and a Nokia N810
(800x480px, 226dpi, Mozilla clonoid for GTK) -- the text glyphs were way
oversize, even overlapping. To fix, I lied to my X-server claiming 96dpi.
As I understand it, one of the libraries scales the PostScript font, but
not the graphical content, so the glyphs are the same size as those on the
physical screen, which of course is a crock on the N810, or on an Eee, and
is also a poor strategy on the laptop.
My current opinion is that all the apps should specify a font of Serif or
Sans-Serif (according to the theme), and the user (with the help of good
defaults in the distro) should set the default font size so he can read
them with his eyes (blurred with age) and physical screen, and the apps
should never override that setting, at most making small relative changes
for titles or fine print notes. Erratic font sizes are one objection I
have to Maemo on the N810, but Maemo is definitely not the only offender.
I wonder if the Bluetooth applet follows this rule? Judging from the
discussion, most likely it does, and it's then at the mercy of the distro's
setup.
Judging the screenshots that were shown, I think the landscape layout (new)
is more practical for the N810. However, the smallest screen I have to
deal with at work is the Palm Treo 650 at 320x320px. It wouldn't be
running Linux, but if it were, both orientations would be equally bad. I
suspect that handheld devices are the most likely to have Bluetooth
accessories, since they have the most limitation in power and USB ports, so
special effort should be put in to fit any dialog boxes reliably on the
small screens, assuming the distro provides defaults that make this
possible.
James F. Carter Voice 310 825 2897 FAX 310 206 6673
UCLA-Mathnet; 6115 MSA; 520 Portola Plaza; Los Angeles, CA, USA 90095-1555
Email: [email protected] http://www.math.ucla.edu/~jimc (q.v. for PGP key)
On Wed, 2008-10-01 at 09:26 -0700, Jim Carter wrote:
> On Wed, 1 Oct 2008, David Sainty wrote:
>
> > xdpyinfo says the DPI is 100x101... heh...
> >
> > dimensions: 800x480 pixels (203x121 millimeters)
> > resolution: 100x101 dots per inch
> >
> > In reality it's around 133dpi (153mm x 92mm).
>
> I'm sure the erratic sizing comes from nonuniform font selection.
<snip>
What does all that have to do with the discussion at hand?
> I wonder if the Bluetooth applet follows this rule? Judging from the
> discussion, most likely it does, and it's then at the mercy of the distro's
> setup.
There's resolution independence patches ready to be merged into GTK+.
See:
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=546711
> Judging the screenshots that were shown, I think the landscape layout (new)
> is more practical for the N810.
The N810 doesn't use bluez-gnome.
> However, the smallest screen I have to
> deal with at work is the Palm Treo 650 at 320x320px.
Which doesn't run Linux, or bluez-gnome, does it?
> It wouldn't be
> running Linux, but if it were, both orientations would be equally bad. I
> suspect that handheld devices are the most likely to have Bluetooth
> accessories, since they have the most limitation in power and USB ports, so
> special effort should be put in to fit any dialog boxes reliably on the
> small screens, assuming the distro provides defaults that make this
> possible.
Please don't go off on tangents. There's a pretty clear discussion
happening, I don't think we want to hear ramblings about other devices
that don't even use bluez-gnome.