I concur with you that fixed fonts, menus, dialog boxes, and tool boxes are
a design decision by Adobe. My understanding from posts over the years in a
number of forums and mailing lists was that the decision was made that it
was too much of a pain in the programming ass to program for dynamic dialog
boxes and fonts in their interface because any change in font size toward
the larger would overrun the space allocated for buttons, dialog boxes, and
menus while allowing for dynamic dialog boxes, buttons, palettes, etc. makes
laying out the interface very complex and costly. Back when this argument
was made in earnest, it may have been the case; but with the introduction of
floating dialog boxes, toolboxes, and palettes, I am not sure that the
arguments against dynamic fonts and dialog boxes is valid anymore.
I suppose they selected an average size font for the monitors in popular use
by their clients at the time the decision was made to stick with fixed fonts
and dialog boxes; this leads me to believe that as monitor sizes increase
and display resolutions rise, Adobe will not move away from fixed font sizes
but will just move up to a larger fixed font size that represents the new
average of the monitors being used by its customers. However, only time
will tell.
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
[mailto:owner-filmscanners@halftone.co.uk]On Behalf Of Frank Paris
Sent: Saturday, March 10, 2001 11:53 AM
To: filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
Subject: RE: filmscanners: Puzzled about display resolution
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
> [mailto:owner-filmscanners@halftone.co.uk]On Behalf Of Derek Clarke
> Sent: Saturday, March 10, 2001 8:51 AM
> To: filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
> Subject: RE: filmscanners: Puzzled about display resolution
>
>
> An inappropriate choice of control is just as much a bug as writing it
> incorrectly yourself!
The choice of tool windows is not an inappropriate choice. They are using
them for the exact purpose Microsoft intended them.
> You can't really argue that Adobe didn't have the opportunity to test
> their work, considering the length of time that elapses between versions.
I am far from arguing that. Just the opposite. Obviously, Adobe would
consider the fixed pixel dimensions of their tool windows a design decision
and they had to carefully program it to make it work. It's just that it is a
design decision that will become increasingly less effective as the
resolution of monitors continues to increase. I suspect that the base class
for their tool windows will become even more complex as they try to adjust
for different classes of users, judging from their screen resolution and
selected font size.
Frank Paris
marshalt@spiritone.com
