[Logic] Info box display problem and workaround

[Bill VanAlstyne]

Mel Martin wrote:
> If you are using XP, turn off "Clear Type" and it will work better...
> also don't use bold fonts...

I'm running Win2K... Don't know for sure, but things that get called names like
"ClearType" (such graphical add-on technologies have been around for years in
different apps and operating systems) are usually anti-aliasing schemes, where
the pixels at the edges of characters are selectively color-shifted toward the
background hue. Perversely, this process of increasing "blurriness" actually
makes the edges look sharper to the human eye. I can see why turning this off
might help in this case.

OTOH, Some Bold fonts seem to work fine -- witness System Bold that I'm using
now.

> It's a strange bug that only seems to affect Logic... I've never seen
> it with any other software...

Neither have I.

> I thought it might be Foxpro, but I see the same problem in the map
> window, which is either VB or VC++

Yup, you're right. If I drag the left-hand edge of the map off-screen and back
on to force it to redraw, the Direction and DX labels become fine again -- until
I mouse over the map, causing the numbers to update and the labels to be
degraded. Same "MO" exactly.

>  I don't think Dennis has had any luck tracking it down so far.
> You get used to it after a while ;-)

Well, except for the map (not a big deal), I no longer have the problem to get
used to.

Bill / W5WVO

>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bill VanAlstyne" <w5wvo@cybermesa.net>
> To: <logic@mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2003 15:21
> Subject: [Logic] Info box display problem and workaround
>
>
>> I noticed right away after installing LOGic 6 that the characters in
>> the Info box looked really funky -- like there were too many pixels
>> in them, very hunky and distorted. But they were still readable, so
>> I put up with it for a while.
>>
>> Then I observed recently -- accidentally -- that if I clicked inside
>> the Info box, the characters would clear up, but then gradually
>> deteriorate again over the next several seconds. This was such an
>> odd phenomenon that I decided to investigate further.
>>
>> I discovered that the deterioration of the characters occurs every
>> second, when the time fields are updated. Somehow, the clock update
>> seems to cause all the characters in the Info box to be redrawn as
>> an overlay, but not on exactly the same coordinates. (Or the
>> coordinates get rounded differently each time. I don't pretend to
>> know exactly how or why this is happening.) Anyway, as a result of
>> whatever process is going on here, the non-clock characters degrade
>> over a period of four to five subsequent clock updates, at which
>> point they reach "max degradation" and don't get any worse.
>>
>> One caveat here -- it's entirely possible that this problem is
>> peculiar to my particular video card, video driver, screen
>> resolution, etc. So if you've never seen it, don't worry about it
>> and ignore this posting.
>>
>> But if you have the same problem I did, you can probably solve it by
>> changing the default font (Arial 9pt Bold) to something else. A
>> number of different fonts manifest the same problem, but some don't
>> seem to. After some experimentation, I changed my Info screen to use
>> System 10pt Bold. The typeface is easy to read, it's bigger, and it
>> doesn't get corrupted by the clock updates.
>>
>> Bill / W5WVO
>>
>>
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