412328 - Boldfaced search engine menu tems are one point size too small

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Camino Graveyard :: Toolbars & Menus, defect)

Description

[Mark Mentovai]

This may be Leopard-specific, but the boldfaced items in the search engine menu and search engine editor window are displayed one point size too small.  Items in the menu that are displayed with ordinary non-attributed strings are displayed in what appears to be Lucida Grande 14.  The boldfaced items we're displaying with attributed strings use Lucida Grande Bold 13.  This is what we get from [NSFont boldSystemFontOfSize:0]; note that [NSFont menuFontOfSize:0] returns Lucida Grande 13, and [NSFont systemFontSize] returns 13.

I actually hate the boldfacing.  It looks so out of place in a Mac menu.  If we need these items to stand out in the menu, maybe we could make them mixed-state menu items.  For the editor, we shouldn't use boldfacing, we should display the selected default search engine with a checkmark.

Comment 1

[Mark Mentovai]

Attachment: Now you see it

Comment 2

[Smokey Ardisson (offline for a while; not following bugs - do not email)]

In the menu, the one-point-too-small problem persists as far back as 10.3.  In the editor, they don't look smaller to me on either 10.3.9 or 10.5.1.

If we go with a checkmark in the editor, will the two different meanings (currently selected engine, in the menu, and default engine, in the editor) confuse people?

Comment 3

[Chris Lawson (gone)]

I don't like the idea of a checkmark meaning two different things either. What's wrong with bold in the editor?

Comment 4

[Mark Mentovai]

You're right, the items are sized consistently in the editor - I was comparing the interior space in a bold "G" to a not-so-bold "G," which wasn't the right way to compare.

I thought that the default in the editor WAS the currently selected engine in the menu.  Is there something I'm missing?  Certainly, when I say "Make Default" in the editor, it changes the currently selected engine in the menu.  (Unless I've got multiple windows open, then it changes the selected engine in the first window only - this seems buggy.)

Comment 5

[Sean Murphy]

(In reply to comment #4)

> I thought that the default in the editor WAS the currently selected engine in
> the menu.  Is there something I'm missing?  

We defined the default search engine as the one chosen when a new window is opened.  The actively selected engine in a window can be something other than the default, and choosing other engines in a WebSearchField has no effect on other windows.

> Certainly, when I say "Make
> Default" in the editor, it changes the currently selected engine in the menu. 
> (Unless I've got multiple windows open, then it changes the selected engine in
> the first window only - this seems buggy.)

We put some thought into this behavior over on bug 201723 in comments 42 and 43, so there is actually some logic behind the process...

When changing default engines via the editor, using "Make Default," any windows whose WebSearchField had their active engine selection set to what was previously the default will be updated to select the new default.  The active engine selection is not changed in windows where the user switched away from the default.  

So, put another way, if you were using the default engine, your selection follows whatever the current default is.  If you switched to another engine, your selection stays the same.

Comment 6

[Smokey Ardisson (offline for a while; not following bugs - do not email)]

I don't know if we want to fix this for 1.6 or not; we should make a decision quickly, though.

Comment 7

[Stuart Morgan]

No nib changes are necessary, so -'ing for b3. We should fix this for 1.6 though.

Comment 8

[Stuart Morgan]

Attachment: bold fix

Option 1: Just fix the bolding by making the system give us the right font.

Comment 9

[Stuart Morgan]

Attachment: mixed state

Option 2: Use mixed state, as suggested by mento.

I'm not wild about this version, but if others like it better I'm fine with that.

Discuss amongst yourselves, and we can pick one to land.

Comment 10

[Smokey Ardisson (offline for a while; not following bugs - do not email)]

Attachment: Mixed state on 10.3.9

Mixed state is not terribly visible on 10.3, I don't think.

Comment 11

[Smokey Ardisson (offline for a while; not following bugs - do not email)]

Attachment: Mixed state on 10.5.2

10.5.2, by comparison, is more noticeable, but odd.

Comment 12

[Stuart Morgan]

The reason I prefer bold I think is that if a user says "huh, why is my search field blue?", I think the bold draws the eye to the answer much more clearly.

Comment 13

[philippe (part-time)]

Comment from my partner (10.5/Camino1.6b):
The mixed state is confusing. What does that 'hyphen' mean there ?

We both vote for the bold.

Comment 14

[Stuart Morgan]

Comment on attachment 305772 [details] [diff] [review]
bold fix

I'm hearing all votes for bold, so let's go that route.

Comment 15

[Mike Pinkerton (not reading bugmail)]

Comment on attachment 305772 [details] [diff] [review]
bold fix

sr=pink

Comment 16

[Stuart Morgan]

Landed on trunk and MOZILLA_1_8_BRANCH.