4 ms·

What? As a game developer what data type and value should I specify for font rendering on an iphone, ipad, 32" 720p LCD, 42" 1080p LCD, 60" 1080p LCD, and 120"

What? As a game developer what data type and value should I specify for font rendering on an iphone, ipad, 32" 720p LCD, 42" 1080p LCD, 60" 1080p LCD, and 120" 1080p projector? Bonus points for solving a similar set but for printed text ranging from index card to billboard size. This is not a simple problem with a simple solution. If it were simple then there wouldn't be multiple topics and giant discussions associated with each.

DeepDuh 14y ago
How about: Incident viewing angle a length can be perceived at average viewing distance?
- __alexs 14y ago
  Even this is not sufficient information to re-flow the design as many users prefer larger screen objects or may simply be unable to use your application due to vision problems or other disabilities.
  - DeepDuh 14y ago
    who says it shouldn't be zoomable?
    - __alexs 14y ago
      Certainly but you need to consider how your UI responds to a more (or less) constrained space as the zoom changes. It's hard to implement designs that adapt to that with the tools we have right now.
__alexs 14y ago
I'm not trying to suggest that designing for different display sizes is simple. You are conflating two problems. Firstly there is the problem that devices have a wide variety of screen sizes and usage scenarios. Your phone has a different number of pixels per arc-second than your laptop. Then there is the problem that your computer is actively lying to you about what physical units are and what the screens DPI actually is. This makes working around the first problem harder. The first problem requires a judgement call by the developer, and even some input from the user in many situations since e.g. some users just prefer bigger text. (Although most games dont seem to care about this so arcseconds/pixel at the "intended" viewing distance is probably a reasonable way to scale the text.) The second problem is so horribly endemic that I doubt it will be fixed in any meaningful way for a long time.

DeepDuh 14y ago

How about: Incident viewing angle a length can be perceived at average viewing distance?

__alexs 14y ago
Even this is not sufficient information to re-flow the design as many users prefer larger screen objects or may simply be unable to use your application due to vision problems or other disabilities.
- DeepDuh 14y ago
  who says it shouldn't be zoomable?
  - __alexs 14y ago
    Certainly but you need to consider how your UI responds to a more (or less) constrained space as the zoom changes. It's hard to implement designs that adapt to that with the tools we have right now.

__alexs 14y ago

I'm not trying to suggest that designing for different display sizes is simple. You are conflating two problems. Firstly there is the problem that devices have a wide variety of screen sizes and usage scenarios. Your phone has a different number of pixels per arc-second than your laptop. Then there is the problem that your computer is actively lying to you about what physical units are and what the screens DPI actually is. This makes working around the first problem harder. The first problem requires a judgement call by the developer, and even some input from the user in many situations since e.g. some users just prefer bigger text. (Although most games dont seem to care about this so arcseconds/pixel at the "intended" viewing distance is probably a reasonable way to scale the text.) The second problem is so horribly endemic that I doubt it will be fixed in any meaningful way for a long time.