Variable width font is erroneously introduced while selecting characters for editing
Categories
(MailNews Core :: Composition, defect)
Tracking
(Not tracked)
People
(Reporter: Oakly501, Unassigned)
Details
Attachments
(4 files)
Thunderbird variable width bug.png
Steps to reproduce:
Body Text, Arial Font are defaults.
Create new email.
Type characters X <enter> <enter> Z
With mouse, select the string starting with X, the blank line, up to just before Z.
Copy.
Position to blank line between the lines X and Z.
Paste.
Left arrow repeatedly while monitoring the font display "Arial".
When you reach the beginning, Right arrow repeatedly while monitoring the font display "Arial".
Actual results:
While moving backward through the document with the left arrow, the font displays "Arial" as expected.
While moving forward, the font changes to "variable format" but just at the inserted line.
Note: If new text is typed at the point where the variable format change was introduced, it will all be variable format. This font change can appear subtle until your email is replied to and sent back to you by a recipient, when it then manifests itself as a gross oversight in formatting!
Expected results:
Font should not have changed from Arial at any point in the document.
"Variable Format" can be made to switch to the font in several other text select sequences, the most trivial of which is to simply type Ctrl-A on an empty document. Another instance is the keyboard shortcut Shift+<right arrow> while positioned at the end of any line except the last line.
I have experienced this bug many times when composing emails. I can reproduce these results as described above.
I usually experience it while I am typing and notice a typo, I use the left arrow to go back and fix the typo, and then press the down arrow to get back to the end of the text, which switches the font from my default of Times to variable width. I can use the left arrow to get back to the Test in Times, but if I go to the end of the text, it will revert to the 'variable width' font/formatting. This bug affects me a lot as I make a lot of typos and go back to fix them as I am typing.
While I am not a software engineer and I have not dived into why this would happen, it happens consistently to me. I am using Thunderbird 91.11.0 the standard/most updated version available in the Linux Mint repositories (which uses the Ubuntu repositories). I am using Linux Mint 20.3.
Steps to reproduce:
File > New > Message
Tab to Subject, Tab to message body, type:
"Hi,
Thunderbird has a bag."
Use the left arrow to go back and correct the typo in 'bag' to 'bug' by deleting the 'a' and typing 'u.'
Use the down arrow to get to the end of the text.
Actual results:
This should result in the text switching from the default (Times in my case) to "Variable Width" at the end of the text.
Expected results:
The font/formatting should not change automatically at any point in the message body.
JJ: can you confirm this? What version of Thunderbird are you using? What OS are you using?
I will also attach a screenshot.
Does anyone else experience this issue? Please add to this bug report to give it some more attention!
Still hoping that someone who knows how this works will see this and fix it as I encounter this bug almost every day I send an email...
There was a massive jump in the version of Thunderbird (from version 91.11.0 to 102.2.2) that became available this week via the Ubuntu repositories on Linux Mint. Hopefully this update will have an effect on the variable width bug described here...
As of today (12/11/2022) I'm still able to reproduce this bug as per the step-by-step instructions I documented 6 months ago:
(New email, type X <Enter> <Enter> Z ...etc.
I am running Thunderbird version 102.5.1 (32 bit) under Windows 10 Home, 64 bit OS Version 22H2, build 19045.2251
It appears this issue is connected to whether the email's message section starts out the typed text formatted as "Body Text" or "Paragraph."
When the message section of the Compose window is initiated as "Body Text" formatting this variable font issue does not appear for me in the same way (described above) that it does when the message section of the Compose window starts out as "Paragraph" formatting - ?
User agent = Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:102.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/102.13.0
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Updated•1 year ago
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(In reply to Brad from comment #7)
It appears this issue is connected to whether the email's message section starts out the typed text formatted as "Body Text" or "Paragraph."
When the message section of the Compose window is initiated as "Body Text" formatting this variable font issue does not appear for me in the same way (described above) that it does when the message section of the Compose window starts out as "Paragraph" formatting - ?
User agent = Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:102.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/102.13.0
I am able to reproduce this bug irrespective of whether the Compose window is initiated as "Body Text" or "Paragraph".
In verifying that this bug still exists, I went through my original exercise outlined above (X <enter> <enter> Z etc.) and the same erroneous results occur. I found it was much quicker to verify the error by simply doing a "Ctrl a" (select all); whereby the font immediately changes from Arial to Variable Width, no other keystrokes required!
Interestingly, although this keyboard shortcut "Ctrl a" should be equivalent to the pulldown menu Edit / Select All, the pulldown menu method does NOT produce any change of the font (to Variable Width or anything else; it stays on Arial)!
I am no longer able to reproduce this "bug" - is anyone else able to or should we mark it as closed?
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Reporter | |
Comment 10•8 months ago
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(In reply to Brad from comment #9)
I am no longer able to reproduce this "bug" - is anyone else able to or should we mark it as closed?
I continue to have a problem with this bug.
The steps required to reproduce it have not changed, either for the verbose test on my original post (x <enter> <enter> z etc.),
nor for the shorter test in comment 8 of this thread (ctl-a etc.).
Thank you.
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Comment 11•8 months ago
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(In reply to JJ from comment #10)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arial - does this issue happen when you use other fonts besides Arial? I'm particularly curious about open source fonts...?
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Reporter | |
Comment 12•8 months ago
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Yes, this issue happens with other fonts besides Arial.
If you look back at this thread, I've defined two test cases which create this problem; one which starts by typing the characters x <enter> <enter> z etc., and one which simply does a ctl-a select all.
Using the fonts "Times" and "Agency FB" I was able to repeat the unexpected results running both test cases on each of the two fonts.
For expediency's sake, I then ran additional tests using only the second test case (ctl-a select all), and with the following fonts:
Agency FB
Alef
Algerian
Amiri
Amiri Quran
Arial Rounded MT
Arial Unicode MS
Bahnschrift
Baskersville Old Face
... and all gave me the unexpected results.
Thank you.
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Comment 13•8 months ago
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(In reply to JJ from comment #12)
Are you using the current version of Thunderbird? https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/115.12.2/releasenotes/
Are you using the same operating system as stated above?
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Reporter | |
Comment 14•8 months ago
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Today I re-ran the above test cases previously run on 7/2/2024, now with the latest Thunderbird version (115.12.2).
I am still getting the above unexpected results.
My OS is Windows 10 Home, version 22H2, Build 19045.4529.
Thank you!
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Comment 15•8 months ago
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(In reply to JJ from comment #14)
When you type X <enter> <enter> Z, does the formatting switch from "body text" to "paragraph" ?
When you copy and then paste the lines between X & Z, does the format switch back to body text? And the font from Arial to "variable width" ?
If I move the cursor with a right or left arrow, the format switches back to paragraph, but the font remains variable width.
So it appears that this issue is still present.
I am not sure why or how Thunderbird automatically formats the text style and font...
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Reporter | |
Comment 16•6 months ago
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Hi Brad,
Here's the answer to your question. I'm copying my test case procedure here for clarity:
Body Text, Arial Font are defaults.
Create new email.
Type characters X <enter> <enter> Z
With mouse, select the string starting with X, the blank line, up to just before Z.
Copy.
Position to blank line between the lines X and Z.
Paste.
Left arrow repeatedly while monitoring the font display "Arial".
When you reach the beginning, (See NOTE below) Right arrow repeatedly while monitoring the font display "Arial".
(end of test case procedure)
NOTE:
At the above break point in the test case, your display should look like this:
X
X
(blank line)
(blank line)
Z
(cursor is positioned just before the first X on line 1)
(then, continuing with the test case, the right arrow key is typed repeatedly)
(then, when the cursor drops from the 1st blank line to the 2nd blank line, the toolbar in the dialog window which was showing "Body Text" and "Arial" changes to "Body Text" and "Variable Width".
Added note to test case:
At the point where the "Variable Width" attribute is displayed, typing an additional right arrow drops the cursor down to the left of the Z on the following line, and at that point the "Variable Width" attribute changes back to "Arial".
Thank you!
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Reporter | |
Comment 17•6 months ago
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Hello again Brad -
Just to be clear, I realized I didn't specifically answer your two questions and one comment, so I will do that now in context:
The changes from "Variable Width" to "Arial" which I outlined above are the ONLY changes I am seeing. Here are your specific questions and comments with my answers:
Q: When you type X <enter> <enter> Z, does the formatting switch from "body text" to "paragraph" ?
A: No
Q: When you copy and then paste the lines between X & Z, does the format switch back to body text?
A: No
Q: And the font from Arial to "variable width" ?
A: No
Your Comment: If I move the cursor with a right or left arrow, the format switches back to paragraph, but the font remains variable width.
A: I don't see the switch to "paragraph" at any point; just the switch in and out of "Variable Width" / "Arial" as I move from the very beginning of the body of the email to the end, and back to the beginning. This switch happens exactly at the point of cursor movement between the two blank lines, whether forward arrow (down a line) or backward arrow (up a line).
Description
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