1306 Options Hex font is used for Text Details

[chrisjj]

E.g. http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/5114/startmenu.png

[Lutz]

I don't think so. <td> is a keyword (as shown in the status bar) and on my BC 13298 Keyword-Elements have a seperate Style-property (i. e. Bold).

Greetings Lutz

[chrisjj]

You;ll see there that Text Details font accords with File Display, Hex font and not either of the other font settings. If I change File Display, Hex font, I see Text Details changes accordingly.

[Lutz]

Ok, I reproduced it!
'Hex font' is used in the details display if 'Hex Details' or 'Aligned Details' is turned on (otherwise 'Editor font' is used). This must be the intended behaviour as Hex font is restricted to fixed width fonts.

Greetings Lutz

[chrisjj]

> This must be the intended behaviour

But not indicated behaviour. I don't think the typical user looking for Text Details font setting is going to guess to try Hex font.

[Aaron]

Thanks for the feedback. Our Font customizations consist of a: Editor Font, Listing Font, and Hex Font. We then use these fonts in the appropriate locations and viewers (Listing in the Folder Compare, Editor in the Text Editor). The Line details often follows the main pane's font, except in the case of the Aligned Details, which requires a fixed width font. Instead of having a 4th Font type specifically for Aligned Details, we just use the Hex Font. This will likely not change in BC3, but expanding our font customization options is on our Customer Wishlist, and I made note of this specific use case.

UPDATE: I misspoke. The Folder Compare has its own customization options in the Options dialog. The Listing Font is for the file views with list like structures such as Registry Compare, MP3 Compare, etc.

[chrisjj]

Instead of having a 4th Font type specifically for Aligned Details, we just use the Hex Font.

Do you expect the user looking for text Details font setting to guess to try Hex font?

[Erik]

Do you expect the user looking for text Details font setting to guess to try Hex font?

The "Text Details" panel, which is shown by default, uses the same font as the main editors, the "Editor" font.

The "Hex Details" panel uses the "Hex" font.

The "Aligned Details" panel will only work correctly when the font is fixed-width. We could have just hard-wired a font, but instead we chose to use the "Hex" font.

[chrisjj]

I must say if you're thinking the average user looking for (aligned) text Details font setting will guess to try Hex font, I think you're wrong. Likewise if you think he will not be surprised to find his change to Hex font affecting also non-hex.

[Aaron]

The surprise would be momentary, and grants the power user extra control if they would like to pick a font that works well for them in both views.

The alternative, as Erik mentioned, was to hard code a font until we are able to go back and expand the font customization options (a larger project.) This would be less surprising for the user, but would also offer no customization.

[chrisjj]

The surprise would be momentary

I don't see how e.g. if his next use for the Text Compare details is long after changing the Hex font.

The alternative, as Erik mentioned, was to hard code a font

The alternative was to correctly label the UI.