Normal Size Font versus Large Font

[N4709L]

We have a large development team working on the same application. Some
developers, because of their development hardware (which may be either a
desktop or laptop, etc.) use Normal Size Font, while others prefer to use
the Large Font setting.

A problem arises because when you open up a form in the IDE, the values for
size will change slightly depending upon whether Normal Size or Large Size
Font is being used. This causes the size of fields and the position of
fields to move around depending upon who last "touched" the form (i.e. what
Font setting they were using).

Nor is the change in size consistent. When Normal Size Font is used, we may
size each field on the form to be 24 units tall. When it is opened on a PC
that runs Large Font, these same fields may be 30, 31, or 32 units tall! The
size is not only different, but fields that were consistently all sized to
be 24 units tall on a Normal Size Fonts system may be any of a variety of
sizes when the form is opened on a development machine that runs Large
Fonts.

This causes serious problems because our QA team is quick to point out forms
that are laid out in a sloppy fashion! This "sloppy" appearance is simply a
result of this Large Size/Normal Size Font problem in the VS.IDE. And our
software testing automation tools go wild when the forms change this way!
Even buttons change size slightly!

We will probably have to legislate (rather arbitrarily) that everyone on the
development team use Normal Size Fonts which will cause problems on some
hardware platforms.

Has anyone else noticed this problem? Is there a solution? We have easily
reproduced this by simply changing one station from Normal to Large fonts,
rebooting, and reopening the project. Argh!

Thanks, -Ron

 

[Jay B. Harlow [MVP - Outlook]]

Ron,

Has anyone else noticed this problem?

Not yet, as I am a lone developer.

Is there a solution? We have easily
reproduced this by simply changing one station from Normal to Large fonts,
rebooting, and reopening the project. Argh!

The "easiest" solution I can think of is to ensure all your developers are
running at the same font size & the same resolution.

As your other thread was pointing out, the AutoScale property will ensure
the forms look "normal" independent of what the resolution & font size when
you run, however I understand that it does not come into play when you
design.

Another otpion that may work, is to design your forms in something other
then pixels! (use Twips like VB6 did, or "Dialog Units" as VC++ 6.0).

Charles Petzold's book "Programming Microsoft Windows with Microsoft Visual
Basic .NET - Core Reference" has a section on the AutoScale property where
he discusses using "Dialog Units" to manually design forms. What I'm not
sure about is if you can convince the VS.NET forms designer to use something
other then pixels.

Hope this helps
Jay