373887 - New start page font too small; has reduced functionality

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(www.mozilla.org :: General, defect)

Description

[u81239]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; nl; rv:1.8.1.2) Gecko/20070219 Firefox/2.0.0.2
Build Identifier: 

Hi,

The new Thunderbird start page has three issues, as far as I am concerned:

1. The font size is too small, it looks out of proportion compared to the rest of Thunderbird. It’s also not easy to read at this size. The text below the title is miniscule, and even the main text is smaller than any other text in the UI. If I were not using Cleartype, it would be even harder to read. Note: I am using 120dpi on a 1680x1050 15" display.

2. The Dutch version of the page (and the Swedish one as well, probably others too) contained a small scripted link to the dictionary file that would directly download the file in Thunderbird if clicked. I added this code myself for Firefox 1.5, iirc. This process was *much* easier than the current one where the dictionary will be installed in Firefox if the install link is clicked; I do not see how a novice user can easily figure out how to install a dictionary in Thunderbird. I very much want this functionality to return.

3. Also, I don’t like the new shade of blue at all. The old shade was much much better on the eye, this is just so bright.

Will attach screenshot with how it looks for me.


Regards,

Laurens Holst (NL localisation team)

Reproducible: Always

Comment 1

[u81239]

Attachment: How the new Thunderbird start page looks for me (w/Cleartype, 120dpi, 15" display)

Comment 2

[u81239]

Attachment: Compare with the other text page in Thunderbird

This one may be the other side of the spectrum - text’s kinda big compared to the rest. But at least it’s readable!

Comment 3

[u81239]

Attachment: Compare with the other text page in Thunderbird

(sorry, correct file this time)

Comment 4

[u81239]

This was the code for the dictionary link:

 30 <!ENTITY startpage.extra "<script type='text/javascript'>
 31 <![CDATA[
 32 function installDic(anchor)
 33 {
 34    var params = { 'Nederlandse woordenlijst' : anchor.getAttribute('href') };
 35    InstallTrigger.install(params);
 36 }
 37 ]]>
 38 </script><h2>Spellingcontrole</h2>
 39                           <p>Voor Nederlandse (en andere) spellingcontrole, bezoek <a href='http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/dictionaries.html'>woordenboeken voor Mozilla</a>, of</p> 
 40                           <ul><li><a href='http://downloads.mozdev.org/dictionaries/spell-nl.xpi'
 41                           onclick='installDic(this);return false'>download het Nederlandse woordenboek rechtstreeks</a>.</li></ul>
 42                           <p>Deze woordenboeken zijn beschikbaar onder de GNU/GPL-licentie en mogen daarom niet standaard worden meegeleverd in Thunderbird NL.</p>">


Translation:

"For Dutch (and other) spell checking, visit dictionaries for Mozilla [link]."

This corresponds to the link that is also present in the current page. However, what we added was:

"* Download the Dutch dictionary directly [link]"

"These dictionaries are available with the GNU/GPL-license and can therefore not be delivered with Thunderbird NL by default."

If the "Download the Dutch dictionary directly" link is clicked, a window pops up asking ‘do you want to install this extension’ and if the answer is yes, the dictionary is installed directly into thunderbird. A very easy process.


~Grauw

Comment 5

[u81239]

See http://lxr.mozilla.org/l10n-mozilla1.8/source/nl/mail/chrome/messenger/start.dtd#30 for original source in the Dutch localisation, and http://lxr.mozilla.org/l10n-mozilla1.8/source/sv-SE/mail/chrome/messenger/start.dtd#30 for its equivalent in the Swedish localisation (which I copied it from originally).


~Grauw

Comment 6

[u81239]

For reference, the relative font size on a regular 96dpi display can be seen on the image in attachment 255819 [details]:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/attachment.cgi?id=255819

As you can see, there it looks normal.

Comment 7

[Marek Stępień [:marcoos, inactive]]

See also bug 373937 for another issue.

Comment 8

[u81239]

Looking at the CSS, I *think* that making the following modifications solves the text size problem reasonably well. However, I do not know how this looks on 96dpi.

body {
-	font-size: small;
-	min-width: 500px;
+	min-width: 40em;
}

#header p {
-	max-width: 500px;
+	max-width: 40em;
}

#footer {
-	font-size: x-small;
-	font-size: smaller;
}

The font-size modifications make it use font-size medium and small instead of small and x-small. The max-width modifications give the text room based on the text size instead of a fixed pixel width; you want to limit the width of the text to a certain number of characters per line here, and that is relative to the text size.

Additionally:

I have Vista, so I have that Calibri font that it specifies in the font-size. The Calibri font is more dense than Tahoma, which it uses as second choice. If I compare attachment 258522 [details] and attachment 255819 [details], you can tell that they’re using different fonts by looking at e.g. the ‘g’, and sure enough, if I remove Calibri from the font-family property the text gets more breathing room. Still too small, but it’s better.

By the way, the font used in Vista for the UI is not Tahoma (which is used in Windows XP), not Calibri, but Segoe UI. So I suggest replacing the font-family line with this:

body {
-	font-family: calibri, tahoma, sans-serif;
+	font-family: "segoe ui", tahoma, sans-serif;
}

Segoe UI is a tiny little bit wider than Tahoma, and certainly looks better.


~Grauw

Comment 9

[u81239]

The Firefox start page looks much better (although it still could be a few pixels taller, but I won’t complain). The difference between the two pages is huge, visually, but small, technically:

Thunderbird start:
  font-family: calibri, tahoma, sans-serif;

Firefox start:
  font-family: verdana, sans-serif;

Verdana is really about twice as big as Calibri (which it uses on the Thunderbird Start page). Tahoma is something inbetween.


~Grauw

Comment 10

[u81239]

Attachment: For comparison, Firefox first run page

Comment 11

[u81239]

Attachment: Thunderbird page side-by-side comparison

Thunderbird page side-by-side comparison, with Verdana (new) on the left and with Calibri (old) on the right.

Sorry for the jpeg, forgot to select png -_-;;.

~Grauw

Comment 12

[Steven Garrity [:sgarrity]]

I have replaced the Calibri font with Segoe UI as recommended in comment #8. I'm not sure about the link issue - maybe file another bug for that issue?

Comment 13

[Alex Buchanan [:abuchanan]]

Really old bug and I think this is fixed.  Closing