Issue with font-quality option

[IH]

Hi Glenn,

Many thanks for a great tool, and forgive me if it’s me doing something wrong.

Running Windows 10 Pro 20H1 64bit.

My laptop has a 1920×1080 display, and Windows recommends (and is set to) 125% ‘for scale and layout’ in Display settings. Since v3.2, no matter which value I choose in my ini file for ‘font-quality’, the text in Desktop Info doesn’t change quality, and is stuck on (I think) anti-aliased. However, if I change the scaling to 100% before I launch Desktop Info, the font-quality value is respected and I am able to choose between non-antialised (my preference), anti-aliased and cleartype. Also, if, after launching Desktop Info with the scale on 100% and then manually changing the scale to 125% or even 150%, I am able to change the font-quality value and watch the font quality change on-the-fly in I set the inimonitortime nice and short. The font-quality preference worked fine for me in v3 and v3.1.

Many thanks,
IH

[Glenn]

Thanks for the bug report. I’ll look into it.

The scaling issues continue…

• This reply was modified 2 years ago by Glenn.

[Glenn]

Seems to be better now. At least it’s working for me. I remain skeptical tho 🙂

Look for v3.2.2 soon.

[IH]

Hi Glenn,

Sorry to be a pain, just to let you know unfortunately no difference for me in v3.2.2, still the same scenario – perfect if launched at 100% and scale then changed, but if launched when scale not at 100%, the text has the same anti-aliased quality no matter what I choose for font-quality.

Thanks,
IH

[Glenn]

I did this test with v3.2.2 on Win 20H2, scaling set to 150%.

Attachments:

1. 

   dti-font-quality.png
   

[IH]

Hi Glenn, sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

I’ve attached a (very rough) pasted image of what I see at 100% scale and 150% scale (to compare to your previous image, although the recommended for my laptop is 125%)

I’ve stripped my .ini file right back in case I was doing something wrong which I couldn’t see, but for me the issue remains:

[options]
bottom=0
right=12
width=405
column1width=130
font-face=Tahoma
font-size=16
font-quality=3
inimonitortime=5
ignore-setting-change=0
transparency=100
nav=0

[items]
COMMENT=Tahoma,16,font-quality=3

One extra thing I’ve noticed, if I run DesktopInfo when my scaling is not 100%, the first time it displays, the font size looks as if it is about 50% of its normal size. Strangely (I kept the ini monitor time short to test) if I resave the ini file without any change whatsoever, the text then sizes up to (I presume) the font size specified on the refresh.

Thanks,
Ian

Attachments:

1. 

   100-150-scale.png
   

[Glenn]

it seems we’re getting different results. I’m not sure what comes next.

[IH]

Hi Glenn, as a glutton for punishment I’ve upgraded my machine to Windows 11 to have a look around, unfortunately still the same behaviour. I note that it works for you on 20H2 (on Windows 10 I was on 21H1) so if time allows I’ll try and put 20H2 on the machine and see how it gets on. Thanks.

[rtruss]

I am seeing this , the image marked ‘expected’ is what I am seeing on my virtual device and the other one, marked surface and full screen shot, is what I am seeing on my daily driver. Microsoft Surface. Windows 11 Insider Preview on DI 3.2.2. I still need to update my vm to win 11 to see how it goes. When I try to change scale on my surface the blue buttons change size but the text does not and the letters on the edges get cut off. My surface is one of a few so I am able to move forward with all my devices for now. Just wanted to relay what I am seeing also.

Attachments:

1. 

   expected.png
   

[Glenn]

Fingers crossed, I have this solved.

[rtruss]

here is the pic of my surface di output

Attachments:

1. 

   Surface.png
   

[IH]

Hi, me again. I flattened my machine, and tried both Windows 10 x64 20H2 and 21H1, and Windows 11 x64 21H2 (all via wiping the hard drive and installing direct off the microsoft ISOs) and unfortunately they all exhibit the same behaviour. The laptop has a 1920×1080 display and an bog-standard Intel UHD graphics card. I tried them all on first boot (before the proper graphics driver was installed) and after the proper driver was installed.
It all works OK on v3.1.0.4074 (even on Windows 11!), it is, for me at least, v3.2.0.4119 and above where I see the font-quality issue. Also, as explained above, on v3.1, the fonts are of a certain point size from the first time desktopinfo runs, and the only thing that changes that is changing the font size in the .ini, as expected. For me on v3.2 and above, on first run on desktopinfo, the size is much smaller than expected, and then if I resave the ini file (even with absolutely no changes) the size immediately increases. Please excuse me if I’m not being clear – if (work) time allows I’ll try and capture a couple of screenshots if you need them.
Thanks Glenn for an excellent tool, please don’t think my ramblings take anything away from my appreciation of it.

[Glenn]

Thanks for the update. I’ll keep working on it…

[Glenn]

I found the broken font quality code and fixed. Look for v3.2.3 shortly…

[rtruss]

That is exciting. My team keeps hounding me to get this deployed to our Azure based Modern workplace devices. 🙂

[IH]

Hi, almost there! Font quality is now working perfetly, thank you! Sorry to add a “but” but I’m still having that issue with the size of all the text being super-small on first run of desktopinfo.exe. If I run the .exe, I get what I’ve captured in the ‘1st run’ attachment. The font is of a size that I am unable to manually set. My ini file:

[options]
bottom=0
right=12
width=420
column1width=100
font-face=Tahoma
font-size=6
inimonitortime=5
ignore-setting-change=1
nav=0

already specifies the smallest available font-size, 6, but on first run, it looks like I’ve set it to something like 3 (if I was able to set it that small). Then, if I resave the .ini file, without making any changes whatsoever, desktopinfo refreshes and displays everything correctly (2nd attachment – ‘resave ini file’. This is all with Windows scaling the display to its recommended 125%. If I change it to 100%, quit desktopinfo and re-open it, the text is the correct size on both the first run and after the ini resave.

Thanks again,
IH

Attachments:

1. 

   1st-run.png
   

2. 

   resave-ini-file.png
   

[Glenn]

font quality and font size are two different issues. I’ll continue to work on the font scaling.

[IH]

Hi Glenn, just to let you know the font-quality option is working perfectly for me in v3.24, and having the option to turn auto-scaling off has left me with a good working solution. Thanks!

[Author]

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