Re: [lmi] Showing better icons in high DPI

[Vadim Zeitlin]

On Thu, 17 Feb 2022 00:42:13 +0000 Greg Chicares <gchicares@sbcglobal.net> 
wrote:

GC> On 2022-02-16 20:03, Vadim Zeitlin wrote:
GC> [...]
GC> >  If I chop off the most problematic icons, I can even post the screenshots
GC> > publicly, so let me do it here: attached are 3 screenshots showing lmi on 
a
GC> > high DPI (200% scaling) screen. The first one shows lmi using the current
GC> > wx version from lmi repository (~3.1.4). It doesn't look too bad here, but
GC> > the bitmaps are noticeably blocky and, probably worse, all text except for
GC> > the "lmi" in the title bar, which is rendered by OS itself, is not very
GC> > sharp. Not shown here, but things like checkboxes (i.e. anything with thin
GC> > lines) also look blurry.
GC> 
GC> That's what I use every day. I don't really notice the blockiness or
GC> fuzziness of the icons.

 I don't really mind them neither personally, but I think it might create
an adverse first reaction when people see the interface for the first time
and I guess that however few users lmi has, there are still sometimes new
ones. And using Gnome icons just seems nicer even at 100% DPI.

GC> Okay, so that would constitute useful incremental progress: the text
GC> is much more legible. Text rendering is important; icons, not so much.
GC> The second screenshot, modified to magnify the icons (however crudely),
GC> is optimal: you've improved the text clarity, and costly further
GC> changes to retouch the icons don't seem worth the effort.

 OK, I'll do it like this and show you the results a.s.a.p. (but not today
any more).

[my complaints about Inkscape snipped]
GC> Is the GIMP not adequate for this task? I have no wish to learn another
GC> graphics program.

 AFAIK GIMP can't be used for vector graphics. I.e. Inkscape _is_ GIMP for
vector graphics -- at least their (confusing) UI is rather similar.

GC> >  But please let me know what do you think and, notably, whether you have
GC> > any plans to work on these icons yourself or not.
GC> 
GC> If I never edit another icon as long as I live, that'll be too soon.

 I do share your opinion and I'll gladly (even if somewhat regretfully, at
the same time, as I think that a couple of new icons are really not that
bad) write off the time already spent on drawing SVGs as sunk cost and
won't spend any more efforts on this, but I just feel like you give me an
excuse not to do the right thing. It's the usual principle: the fact that
creating SVGs is painful for me and I don't want to do it is a good
indicator that it's actually something that needs to be done :-/

 Anyhow, as I said, I'll make the changes to icon_monger to support scaling
by the DPI scale factor (which makes me wonder whether we should still warn
about scaling at 100% DPI) and check how it looks and share the screenshots
with you, including at non-integer scaling factors, and if you're still not
appalled by how badly it will inevitably look, we'll just do it like this.

 Thanks,
VZ

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