Add ability to change notify-osd font size

This is something for a11y and the design team to discuss. At some point we had it looking like this

summary = 1.2 * application font-size
body = 1.0 * application font-size

but the design team suggested the current set of values we use now.

I'm in favour of being able to customise the font size. The current default should be optimal for most users, but Simon's case is a good example of a situation when additional options are necessary.

The default size may be usable to most users, but to some others it could be
a backwards step because the notification font can not be changed depending
on the user requirements. I see no point in why the system MUST use a
specific font and size for this makes things inconsistent with everything
else being so configurable.

2009/3/5 Mat Tomaszewski <email address hidden>

> I'm in favour of being able to customise the font size. The current
> default should be optimal for most users, but Simon's case is a good
> example of a situation when additional options are necessary.
>
> --
> Consider ability to change libnotify-osd font size?
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/335383
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

The current font size *is* configurable. It changes in sync with your system font size setting. What we're discussing here is adding the ability to set the font size for notifications independently of your system settings.

I agree that this capability is needed. Whether or how to expose this preference to the user in the form of a UI, is a different discussion.

notify-osd should have the technical capability to use a font other than the system's application font, probably in the form of a setting in it's configuration backend (which it does not have now). Users who have a real need will be able to change the font (although not easily, at least until the UI question is addressed).

That is a nasty request for the following reasons.

1.) The whole rendering will have to be changed to be bullet-proof for very extreme cases of values users can set. That will blow up the code.

2.) What should the UI for changing the summary- and body-text look like?

3.) Where should it be put? In gnome-appearance-properties (Fonts-tab)? Elsewhere?

4.) Bubble rendering will have to become fully dynamic, before this change can be implemented.

I feel that's going to be quite some discussion.

Hey Mirco,

I actually think the hardest part of implementing this would be the configuration backend (I am assuming it won't be gconf because we are trying to stay desktop-agnostic?).

1. How is the case different today? The user could have some extreme and weird system settings that in turn would bring unexpected results. The edge cases will remain the same.

2 & 3. IMHO, these questions could be delayed indefinitely, it is probably a bad idea to provide a UI for these settings. But I wonder what MPT would say.

4. For a good user experience, yes. But a highly motivated user, who really needs this, will dig into a UI-less config backend, change settings and log in and out as often as needed until they are happy. I am exaggerating a bit.

Consider this: Vinux (http://vinux.org.uk) is a modified version of Ubuntu optimized for visually impaired users. I haven't gave their ISO a spin yet, but I imagine the default settings are high-contrast and large fonts. When packaging notify-osd, they are going to have to look for a visual sweet-spot that radically differs from vanilla Ubuntu. If they could easily change this without intrusive patches it would be good.

Mirco, I agree with you that this is not something we should support
through a preference that is easily user settable. If it's relatively
easy to have an override gconf key for the two fonts required, then feel
free to support that and close the bug.

The desire to change the font size may be a symptom of the notification text actually being smaller than it should be, which I've reported as bug 339026.

Agreed. I don't think my parents would like the default font size either,
and they are average in terms of vision.

2009/3/7 Matthew Paul Thomas <email address hidden>

> The desire to change the font size may be a symptom of the notification
> text actually being smaller than it should be, which I've reported as
> bug 339026.
>
> --
> Consider ability to change libnotify-osd font size?
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/335383
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

I also would like to see the font size and color of notifications changable. At this time, I am unable to read white text on black backgrounds, so I see a blurred text on black each notification. This does NOT make for a good experience. I am left wondering what those things say, since I can not easily change the font to be large enough to stop blurring, nor can I change the colors.

What has happened to accessibility in Ubuntu? Are you really throwing away the ability of visually impaired users to make the "user experience" what a few consider better?

It would be really nice if notify-osd bugs tagged "a11y" would have some sort of realistic milestone assigned to them, as opposed to simply "wishlist". It reflects badly on the project when these issues don't get the attention they deserve. I don't think I am alone in this opinion.

Is it THAT difficult to make notify-osd's fonts configurable?
I'm not shure about this, but i'm using xubuntu karmic and notify-osd doesn't seem to use xfce's fonts, i have sans 8 with DPI 73 and notify-osd's fonts are MUCH larger than my application fonts.

If this bug is really so difficult to fix (I understand about the extreme cases), why not provide an interface which allows for only a subset of font sizes/colours/whatever? Say sizes 6 to 18 or whatever are valid. I can't think of a case where you would want extremes beyond that level.

As for where the UI should reside i guess the best place would be in the appearences application under the fonts tab, or create a new tab for notification settings. (that seems even better to me and an extremely obvious location for it to be.)

As for what it can look like I will leave that up to smarter people.

I too strongly feel that the default font size, and the size of the notification bubble itself, needs to be customizable. With the current settings, it pops up a tiny 230x93 window (see screenshot) which amounts to 12x7.5% of my screen real-estate. Now I have 20/20 vision, and while the font is readable, when it only pops up for a few seconds, I don't have time to move closer to the screen and focus my eyes intently on that little spot before it disappears! This really comes up for IM and email notifications when I want to actually read the body text and not just the title.

I am making the argument that the notification text needs to be *larger* than the application text, for the very reason that you need to see it and process the information *quickly* before it disappears. When you are working in a single application, you are concentrating on it more, and your eyes are already there looking at it, and so a smaller font size works. I also think that the white text on black background limits readability somewhat at that font size, though I would have no problem with the colour scheme if the font was increased.

I have a 148 dpi screen, and am using Sans 7.5 as my application font size. Assuming that means 7.5pt (there seems to be some uncertainty on this point!), that means my notification text *should* be 12px (1/12 of an inch...already too small!), or 80% of the application font size (15px). However, in the screenshot attached, you can measure the notification text at only 10px, 1/15 of an inch. It is way too small! Is this a bug? Now imagine if I had kept the Ubuntu default setting of 96 dpi...then the text would only be 8px...close to 1/20 of an inch!

Why should I ever need to strain my eyes when I have such a large screen? This just seems crazy to me. And yes, everyone has different screens, and different visual impairments, and you need to allow for these people to customize the system to suit their needs.

That's a very good point about the fact that the notification appears at the
top right of the screen, which your eyes are not usually focused upon. Now
that's fine because it means it's out of the way, but it does result in
these very difficulties. Especially if the message is urgent.

2009/7/4 hackel <email address hidden>

> I too strongly feel that the default font size, and the size of the
> notification bubble itself, needs to be customizable. With the current
> settings, it pops up a tiny 230x93 window (see screenshot) which amounts
> to 12x7.5% of my screen real-estate. Now I have 20/20 vision, and while
> the font is readable, when it only pops up for a few seconds, I don't
> have time to move closer to the screen and focus my eyes intently on
> that little spot before it disappears! This really comes up for IM and
> email notifications when I want to actually read the body text and not
> just the title.
>
> I am making the argument that the notification text needs to be *larger*
> than the application text, for the very reason that you need to see it
> and process the information *quickly* before it disappears. When you
> are working in a single application, you are concentrating on it more,
> and your eyes are already there looking at it, and so a smaller font
> size works. I also think that the white text on black background limits
> readability somewhat at that font size, though I would have no problem
> with the colour scheme if the font was increased.
>
> I have a 148 dpi screen, and am using Sans 7.5 as my application font
> size. Assuming that means 7.5pt (there seems to be some uncertainty on
> this point!), that means my notification text *should* be 12px (1/12 of
> an inch...already too small!), or 80% of the application font size
> (15px). However, in the screenshot attached, you can measure the
> notification text at only 10px, 1/15 of an inch. It is way too small!
> Is this a bug? Now imagine if I had kept the Ubuntu default setting of
> 96 dpi...then the text would only be 8px...close to 1/20 of an inch!
>
> Why should I ever need to strain my eyes when I have such a large
> screen? This just seems crazy to me. And yes, everyone has different
> screens, and different visual impairments, and you need to allow for
> these people to customize the system to suit their needs.
>
> ** Attachment added: "10px font size"
> http://launchpadlibrarian.net/28668476/notify-osd.png
>
> ** Summary changed:
>
> - Consider ability to change libnotify-osd font size?
> + Add ability to change notify-osd font size
>
> --
> Add ability to change notify-osd font size
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/335383
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

This patch adds two new gconf keys:
/apps/notify-osd/custom_font_name
/apps/notify-osd/custom_font_enabled

The basic logic is this:
- If custom_font_enabled is set to true AND custom_font_name is set: use the custom font. Otherwise, use system font.

And, on a similar topic. Since this introduces another two gconf keys, we probably need a schema file in notify-osd that documents the keys properly.

This python script is a simple configuration UI, it is just for testing purposes, although some users might find it useful if they don't want to deal with gconf keys directly.

Thanks for your efforts, Eitan. For some of us, we use derivatives of Ubuntu and do not even have gconf available to make changes. I am testing the script myself now.

hackel, your screenshot does not show that the font size needs to be customizable, it shows that the font size is too small. For example the notification title should be using the same font size as the panel, but the screenshot shows that it is not. If that is still happening for you in latest Karmic, please report that as a bug.

So, font size on 0.9.15 on jaunty is really (really) small, smaller than before I upgraded notify-osd. Is there still no way of customizing that? here's a screencap http://files.getdropbox.com/u/197580/screenshots/notify-osd_screenie.jpg

I would like to know the status of that bug. Is the patch going to be reviewed some day? Thanks in advance.

I would like to subscribe to Steve's question regarding the revision of his patch.
I think a free software deserves configurability.

Allow me to provide another use case for this.

I'm preparing for a performance of live computer music in three days, and my collaborator and I wanted to use send-notify to display messages between us on my screen (which will be projected for the audience to see). The audience will not be able to read the messages unless the text is fairly large, but... some genius decided that the font size of a notification should be coupled to the font size of:

- All text in panels.
- All application menu bars.
- This even trickles into the default font size of GUI windows created the audio software (SuperCollider).

So, either the notification text is too small to read, or the rest of the screen looks perfectly ridiculous (and visible to the audience). I could imagine many in the audience would come away from the performance thinking, "Jeez, Ubuntu looks really terrible."

I know there are higher priority bugs to fix, and I know not everything can be fixed, but I just thought I would make you aware of yet one more user impact that this design "decision" has had.