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Pings => Otter Browser Forum => Topic started by: mlhd on 2014-09-12, 13:26:23

Title: application fonts (menu bar aso)
Post by: mlhd on 2014-09-12, 13:26:23
Hi.

This is my first posting here, so I'd like to take the opportunity to thank you for all your work and efforts:  :wine: :wine: :wine:

I am still using Opera 12.16 (on Debian/sid(uction)) as it still is the best browser available. But since I've heard of otter-browser I'm following its development. I installed beta2 (and while waiting for beta3 I installed weekly36) and I give otter-browser a try from time to time.

One (but not the only) reason for using still Opera is the integrated mail, which included in the side bar gives me an overniew AND quick access to all communication I need *without hiding* the browser with a complete tab. That's one of the most important features I want and a feature that hopefully otter-browser will provide one day.

Today I tried to find out how to change the font size of otter-browser ( I am NOT talking about the html-part, but about the application itself, titels of the tabs, menü bar etc.

I was looking in about:config, and in settings. I understand the application itself relies on QT like my KDE applications  do (I am NOT using KDE desktop but fluxbox). As my installed KDE applications (like dolphin or K3b) show a reasonable font size, I am wondering what engine otter-browser relies on or simply: how can I make the application's fonts bigger and thicker?

Thanks.
Title: Re: application fonts
Post by: Frenzie on 2014-09-12, 13:45:34
Welcome! Qt 5 is supposed to follow desktop settings, but I guess that doesn't always work out okay. In my case this does the trick to make Otter use my desktop's font and color scheme, but I should point out I use Xfce:
Code: [Select]
$ ./otter-browser -style=gtk

I think it looks slightly less native than my Qt4 apps, but certainly less foreign than it does by default. For me the biggest problem is the font hinting issue (https://dndsanctuary.eu/index.php?topic=291.msg25975#msg25975), which should be fixed with the upcoming Qt 5.4 release.

If that doesn't do the trick you can also use stylesheets (http://qt-project.org/doc/qt-5/stylesheet-reference.html#font), but beyond being pleased at seeing the option I never actually investigated how you would apply them. I'm not talking about the reasonably obvious -stylesheet command line switch, but rather how you actually match up your selectors with the right widgets. Perhaps :root will do the trick to apply a style to the entire application, but I really couldn't say.

Anyway, I hope I've given you a little something to go on. The real Qt expert is obviously Emdek, not me. :)
Title: Re: application fonts
Post by: mlhd on 2014-09-12, 14:29:26

...
Code: [Select]
$ ./otter-browser -style=gtk

...


I've a problem parsing your code. Is this supposed to be a hidden file "./otter-browser" with content "-style=gtk"? I guess that's not want you meant. And I already have "/home/<user>/.config/otter/otter.conf" Whereto do I copy what exactly?

Thanks.

EDIT:
aaahhh, that's a commandline option, ok. Yes, that makes it follow my gtk settings which I now have to figure out how to adapt them accordingly.
Title: Re: application fonts
Post by: Frenzie on 2014-09-12, 16:11:28
Great! :)

Btw, the Arch Wiki (always useful) has an article on the subject: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Uniform_Look_for_Qt_and_GTK_Applications
Title: Re: application fonts
Post by: mlhd on 2014-09-12, 17:02:34
There are workarounds, yes. But, you know, I am working around font size problems since ever, with limited success. So I am hoping Linux gets a (common) desktop (settings-environment)  one day.

Hopefully otter-browser learns honoring my QT/KDE settings a bit earlier ;-) (because my KDE applications really do have the settings I want them to have, which I can't say for my gtk-x applications.)

Thanks
Title: Re: application fonts
Post by: Frenzie on 2014-09-12, 19:09:52
Well, there are the Freedesktop.org specifications. Luckily most things follow them fairly well, but with a transition like from Qt 4 to Qt 5 I guess there's bound to be some issues — sadly exacerbated by the lack of qtconfig. It occurs to me that with Qt 5.3 in the Debian repositories I could now actually install the Otter .deb package, besides compiling it myself in my separately downloaded Qt 5.3. Perhaps the distro-provided Qt would do a better job integrating automatically.

KDE is also migrating to Qt 5 by the way, so in that case everything might solve itself for you before too long.
Title: Re: application fonts
Post by: mlhd on 2014-09-12, 19:23:18

...It occurs to me that with Qt 5.3 in the Debian repositories I could now actually install the Otter .deb package,...


My first installed version of otter-browser was beta2 on Debian / Sid. No problems installing it. But in the longer run I'd prefere you would use the *source* distribution (Debian) instead of a derivative like Kubuntu for building *.deb_s . But that's a different matter outside the scope of this thread.