388402 - &width= and &height= parameters to chart.cgi should include only the graph, not the text around it

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Bugzilla :: Reporting/Charting, defect)

Description

[dolphinling]

The &width= and &height= parameters to chart.cgi control how tall and wide the chart is. Currently they control how large the entire image is, including the actual graph and the labels around it. I think it would be better if it included only the graph, not the labels.

Both ways do have their uses. The current way e.g. is good if you want to embed the image somewhere else with a particular size constraint. However, most of the time I change the size it's because I want to get more detail on the graph, and having the height and width more directly correspond to the numbers I put in would be better.

Comment 1

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

I don't understand what you mean by "more directly correspond". If you want to increase the height of the graph by 100px, and 100 to the height parameter; the scale stays the same size (pretty much).

Changing these parameters would break stuff; adding new parameters would be a needless complexity. I'm sorry, but this isn't going to happen.

Gerv

Comment 2

[dolphinling]

If I set &height to 100 currently, I get a chart that's 26px tall with 74px of whitespace and text around it. I'd rather have it be a chart that's 100px tall with 74px of whitespace and text. That's what I meant by "more directly correspond", although I admit the wording wasn't great.

What stuff would changing this break? Is there anything that depends on the width and height being calculated the way they are now?

Comment 3

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

(In reply to comment #2)
> What stuff would changing this break? Is there anything that depends on the
> width and height being calculated the way they are now?

Two things: the embedding of the graphs in the HTML used to serve them, and the Rule of Least Surprise. 

I am not going to change the code so &height=100 gives you an image with a height of 174px - or, in fact, an image which varies in height depending on your font choice. That just makes no sense at all, even if it were possible (and I'm not sure it is).

Gerv