[Kst] [Bug 129256] New: fonts sizes decrease too quickly with number of plots

[Nicolas Brisset]

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http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=129256         
           Summary: fonts sizes decrease too quickly with number of plots
           Product: kst
           Version: unspecified
          Platform: unspecified
        OS/Version: Solaris
            Status: NEW
          Severity: wishlist
          Priority: NOR
         Component: general
        AssignedTo: kst kde org
        ReportedBy: nicolas.brisset eurocopter com


Version:           1.3.0_devel (using KDE 3.4.0, compiled sources)
Compiler:          gcc version 3.4.3
OS:                SunOS (sun4u) release 5.8

Note that I'm using a remote connection to a Sun via Cygwin/XFree, which may be part of the reason why font sizes are what they are. I'm mentioning this just in case it has an influence, but I tend to believe this is a general problem.

When putting plots on grids, the reference font size (corresponding to "0" in the spinbox) seems to decrease too fast:
- create a window with 1 plot: it is quite OK
- create a window with 2x2 plots: still works
- create a window with 3x3 plots: fonts are too small (and axis values as well)
I understand the general need to keep as much room as possible for the curves themselves, but kst is currently too "aggressive". From a usability point of view, I think it is worse to have to change font sizes or maximize a plot to be able to read the text (axis name, values or legend) than having a somewhat smaller curve.

To make this a bit more factual, looking at the height of legend text in pixels here is what I get for size = 0, base font size = 20 (as set in the default settings) and text in capital letters without accents nor "legs" i.e. text below the baseline:
- 1 plot per window: 15 pixels
- 2x2 plots: 7 pixels
- 3x3 plots: 6 pixels (which I'd say is the absolute readability limit)
- 4x4 plots: 4 pixels
For information, the full height of a window in my case (from just below the tabs to just above the status bar) is 625 pixels.

Note that the size of axis labels, legends and axis values are quite consistent (they are all too small !), which is good and needs to be preserved (they will all be large enough :-).