Increase font size in Installer to 14pt where resolution allows

[accessays]

The current font size during installation is 12pt. This works out just fine, but it can be beneficial to use a larger default font size, as it just simply makes it easier to see things. This especially affects those with impaired vision.

I've gotten feedback that 14pt might make the interface too large for some resolutions, and that's fair. We can find the lowest resolution where 14pt still works out fine, and below that use 12pt. This way Installer still fits on all displays it currently fits on, and is easier to see on larger displays.

This could be extended to possibly having even larger font sizes with larger resolutions, but I think that just this is enough to have an immediate improvement (most) everywhere.

[nephele]

I think app_server already does this on first run?

​https://cgit.haiku-os.org/haiku/commit/?id=9004d85ec54182a1768abafbcdcf56feeaf98a60

[accessays]

As I understand it, that's what happens after the user has booted into the desktop (i.e. post-install)? Even so, it scales fonts if resolution >1080p and more if >4k. My proposal is to increase the default font size during installation to something like 14pt, and keep 12pt if resolution is, say, <768p.

[waddlesplash]

No, this happens on app_server startup, not post-install. Yes, it only changes the font size if >1080p.

Personally I like 12pt fonts up to that size, but maybe there's a case for 14pt at >768p. How shall we poll users, developers, etc. or otherwise come to a decision?

[accessays]

Replying to waddlesplash:

No, this happens on app_server startup, not post-install. Yes, it only changes the font size if >1080p.

Personally I like 12pt fonts up to that size, but maybe there's a case for 14pt at >768p. How shall we poll users, developers, etc. or otherwise come to a decision?

Perhaps a poll on the forums? I don't know how polls are usually done around here. I think it would be a good idea to add a little switch in the Installer to quickly switch between 12pt and 14pt. This way people can check both and see which one they prefer.

Maybe that's even the solution -- to just have a little switch to select font size.

[pulkomandy]

First of all,before doing a poll we should check our constraints: the FirstBootPrompt, DriveSetup and Installer windows should fit on screen. They're already a tight fit at 12pt.

Personally I would vote for 12pt at 1080p and 10pt at smaller sizes, but that's just me…

Polls on the forum are limited (only 4 answers) and not really the way we usually run things anyway. Let's have a discussion here and we can probably agree on something. Probnably some changes to the existing code to set a size? Also, a simple poll with simple majority is not great in this case. Let's say I always want the smallest possible font soI vote 10pt. Other people vote 12pt. And slightly more people vote 14pt. The result is selecting 14Pt, but if you add up the 10 and 12pt people, you see that smaller font sizes have more supportsers (or it could be the other way around)

We try to avoid having every option in the Installer. If you have problems with the default font size or any other setting, you can boot to desktop, and adjust settings from there before you start Installer. However, in this specific case, there's the argument that it's an accessibility setting, so maybe we can consider it?

[waddlesplash]

Perhaps we should simply have a button to open Appearance settings from FirstBootPrompt?

[accessays]

I think letting the user choose themselves is a good idea, as everyone has their preferences. The challenge is making it easy to use and not confusing.

A button to open Appearance sounds like a good solution. I'm not sure how to properly to communicate that that's where the user can adjust fonts.

Also, will font changes in Appearance affect Installer right away? Don't apps need to be restarted to update their fonts?

[waddlesplash]

For now they do, but that should be fixed. FirstBootPrompt has some special logic to support changing languages at runtime already, it can be the first to gain support for changing fonts, too.

[accessays]

Replying to waddlesplash:

For now they do, but that should be fixed. FirstBootPrompt has some special logic to support changing languages at runtime already, it can be the first to gain support for changing fonts, too.

That sounds reasonable.

Now the question is, how to nicely present this possibility to the user? Before the installer starts? They haven't even seen the UI by then. Right beside the language selection perhaps?

[pulkomandy]

I don't think opening appearance is a great idea. If we go this route we may as well just boot to desktop and let users change settings there. Because this won't stop at a'pearance, people will want to configure their mouse as left-handed or whatever.

We are simultaneously arguing here that we need more tweaks in the install process, and elsewhere (on the forum recently) that we want to remove steps from it. We can't have both.

[humdinger]

Agreed WRT opening Appearances. People will get even more overwhelmed by its 4 font style/size settings, and more colour etc. tabs. Even more so, as this is an accessibility issue in the first place and the people concerned have trouble reading small sized things. Maybe add a "Font size: Small, Normal, Large" pop-up menu to the FirstBootPrompt that sets all 4 font sizes behind the scene. The FirstBootPrompt window should react live, the Installer and DriveSetup are started later and come with the new size setting anyway.