Moving from bitmapped fonts to scalable outline fonts

[GeneMosher]

I have many ideas which, in the era before AI, would have been too challenging to undertake. I'll use the issue area to initiate some ideas for the roadmap ahead.

One such idea is to replace the bitmap fonts with scalable outline fonts. This will require that the portion of the Button Properties Dialog that's shown when a button is being edited (and the Multi-Button Property Dialog that is shown when multiple buttons are selected) will offer a list of available scalable outline fonts rather than offering the list of available bitmapped fonts.

Historical context: When the current ViewTouch code base began development in 1995 the only font display available was bitmapped fonts. Scalable outline fonts only became available several years later. It's important to understand that ViewTouch text is made very easily readable because there is code which provides for a simulated embossed text. This is achieved by creating a frosted (lightened) effect on the left and top edges of each letter, while there is also code which provides for a shadow (darkened) effect on the right and bottom edges. The way the code does this is by simply printing each letter three times, each time using a different color ! The current best text to use for most buttons is Times 34 Bold.

The availability of AI to undertake such an advancement as this makes it a very tempting project to undertake. I think it will be helpful to have discussions about what might be the best AI coding tool(s) to use. Things move very quickly in the AI arena and it makes no sense to NOT discuss this.

[No0ne558]

Ok im working on this and this is what i currently got for today. Some bugs here and there.

2025-06-21.00-48-05.mp4

[GeneMosher]

I wasn't expecting so much to be achieved so quickly on this !!
My first reaction is that the font points be lowered a bit.
Blank areas are showing sometimes. This is because the button is not high enough. I will go through all the pages and make these buttons higher.

vt_data is actually a graphical programming environment, a tool to create the ViewTouch graphical interface. It's a layer which is unique to ViewTouch, which contains all of the Systems Graphics pages and buttons and which allows them to be changed and improved. vt_data allows me, or anyone, to create and advance the graphical appearance without having to go into the code itself - it frees people working at the code level from being responsible for having to create and update the ViewTouch interface ! The only thing people working at the code level have to deal with when it comes to the Interface is in such instances such as this, when the font technology used by vt_data is being adapted and improved.

I'll download and work on this after your commit/merge - the first thing I'll do is go to the default font size and reduce it a bit. You may have already done all you need to do on this issue - the remainder of what needs to be done is what I'll do as SuperUser. Please go ahead and commit/merge this so I can begin work on it.

I'm curious as to whether AI helped you to achieve so much in just a few hours.

[No0ne558]

Yes Ai really help out here by looking for what we have first then coming up with a plan to move to scalable outline fonts. Also testing and if there is a build error it goes though the error and comes up with a fix and even fixed its own mistakes that I had to point out.

[GeneMosher]

You don't have the latest vt_data so you can't see the work I've done.

[No0ne558]

I'll download the latest vt_data and try it later today. I'll upload some footage of what It looks like, and I'll have some suggestions for some things I have found.

[No0ne558]

I just finished. (Hopefully) Couldn't go to bed and here is my fork with all the changes before a pull request.
No0ne558@7043f3b

[No0ne558]

could you split the commit into multiple cohesive chunks. One commit for the snfprintf modernization, one for the bitmap fonts and so on. This makes reviewing the changes much easier. PRs generally should be as small as feasible. One fix at a time

I'll do this on my break at work. I'll let you guys know when I start.

[No0ne558]

Ok on break. Tested external display using Server XSDL and can confirm that I still get an output to android devices. Will start to split the commit to chucks.

[No0ne558]

could you split the commit into multiple cohesive chunks. One commit for the snfprintf modernization, one for the bitmap fonts and so on. This makes reviewing the changes much easier. PRs generally should be as small as feasible. One fix at a time

I think I did it correctly. Feedback is always welcome. Thanks for your patience.

master...No0ne558:viewtouchFork:split-commits

[NeroBurner]

thanks for your effort!

please open a PR with just the snprintf commits. so I can review/merge them

afterwards we can do the scalable font PR with just font commits.

one question already for the Xft part: why are there so many casts to unsigned const char*? rather unusual type for me

[No0ne558]

Why unsigned const char* casts are used:

• Xft API Requirement: Functions like XftDrawStringUtf8() expect unsigned const char* for text input.

• UTF-8 Encoding: UTF-8 uses byte values 0–255, best represented by unsigned char for consistency across platforms.

• Compatibility: X11/Xft code to cast strings to match the expected type.

[GeneMosher]

It's a new era and you will be a fortunate beneficiary.

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On Sat, Jun 21, 2025, 6:57 PM No0ne558 ***@***.***> wrote: Yes Ai really help out here by looking for what we have first then coming up with a plan to move to scalable outline fonts. Also testing and if there is a build error it goes though the error and comes up with a fix and even fixed its own mistakes that I had to point out. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#149 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ACIIEST4VDESB2FR4TIYMDD3EYEPDAVCNFSM6AAAAAB7XNMXTOVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTGNJUGAZTANQ> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[No0ne558]

Absolutely — every beginning carries the seeds of transformation. Without that initial spark, none of this would be possible. Your start has not only led the way but also inspired me personally. Working on ViewTouch has been a direct result of that inspiration — it's pushed me to learn more, challenge myself, and keep improving. I'm grateful to be part of this new era, and I look forward to what we can build from here.

[GeneMosher]

I have been making a lot of edits (graphical changes) to the System Pages (vt_data) and have just uploaded them to viewtouch.com. I believe that anyone who has done a Code Update (via the icon on the ViewTouch desktop or via a pull) and launched ViewTouch (and therefore gets an update of vt_data) will automatically see the effects of these edits. I will need to spend several more hours to adapt the graphical interface of the System Pages (vt_data) to the upgrade represented by the new scalable outline fonts.

I'm wondering which font it is that we're using now. ViewTouch has its own font chooser/selector which might be adapted now to display available fonts (fc-list -h), or perhaps either adding the standalone Font Manager or simply making use of its code might suit our purposes. Font Manager is on Github under the GPL version 3 (as is ViewTouch) so we can make use of it in any fashion as we wish to. We could, for example, use Font Manager to install a selection of fonts and point sizes which would be available in our own font selector as the bitmapped fonts have been displayed. Font Viewer could allow font previews.

I would like to think that Ariel has done the hard part and that if we now load some fonts with various point sizes for users to choose from then the transition to giving users choices for fonts and point sizes will complete this move to scalable outline fonts.

This all would have been quite the challenge before the arrival of AI. Now that we have the advantage of AI we can approach the implementation of such long-awaited upgrades with a lot less trepidation.

[No0ne558]

I'll see what I can do. I'll slow down on the PR requests to give @NeroBurner to look through it before submitting any changes. If you guys want to reach me here is my email:

arielbrambila117@gmail.com

[NeroBurner]

no need to slow down in PRs, as I want to review the PR not single commits. all good from your side 👍

[GeneMosher]

The newest vt_data will not show most of these bugs.

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On Sat, Jun 21, 2025, 12:52 AM No0ne558 ***@***.***> wrote: Ok im working on this and this is what i currently got for today. https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/86ca3db1-6844-4a73-900b-a413c249e750 — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#149 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ACIIESTLY7U7JADVGC6OSZT3EUFKVAVCNFSM6AAAAAB7XNMXTOVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTGNJTGYZTSNI> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>