UX Guide update

FlowState said:

Would it be helpful to have the Graphics.{FONT_ENUM} label in the UX guide? Yes.

So we agree: the Graphics font name is missing from the Guide.

Alan.raceQs said:

The name might be useful to some, but what I'm pointing out is that there's no mapping between the font name and the Graphics font name in the UX-Guide. 

Today, for example,I had to try it out to see if FONT_MEDIUM was bigger or smaller than FONT_MILD. They are just not referenced in the UX-Guide. 

Those are both very valid points. I will also point out that the relative sizes of FONT_MEDIUM and FONT_NUMBER_MILD aren't going to be the same across all devices. Might be smaller on some devices but bigger on others.

EDIT: I meant FONT_MEDIUM (text font) vs FONT_NUMBER_MILD (number font), since they're different classes of fonts, but the person I'm replying to actually meant FONT_NUMBER_MEDIUM vs FONT_NUMBER_MILD. In the latter case, I would say that FONT_NUMBER_MEDIUM is always bigger than FONT_NUMBER_MILD.

There's also the somewhat well-known issue that some devices (like VA3/4) have lots of whitespace at the top of fonts, so that if you try to automatically resize your fonts to fit a container, end users will complain that your fonts are too small. Then you have to end up hardcoding some adjustments to ignore the whitespace.

None of that stuff is in the UX guide.

Alan.raceQs said:

So we agree: the Graphics font name is missing from the Guide.

Yeah I do agree. I agree with the main point, but not some of the specifics, of your argument.

In general a lot of this UX stuff is a nightmare.

FlowState said:

Might be smaller on some devices but bigger on others.

*#$%! I hope not! There has to be some sense to all of this!

Well I assume you mean FONT_MEDIUM vs FONT_NUMBER_MILD (there is no "FONT_MILD").

As FONT_MEDIUM is a text font and FONT_NUMBER_MILD is, well, a number font, you can't expect there to be any guarantee about the relative sizes between different classes of fonts.

The docs imply that FONT_MEDIUM is bigger than FONT_SMALL, for example (they're both text fonts), but they say nothing about the relative sizes of number vs text fonts.

So IIRC, the relative sizes of text vs number fonts can definitely vary between devices, but don't quote me on that.

Just for context, for anyone else reading this thread:

developer.garmin.com/.../Graphics.html

As a matter of fact, I would guess that Garmin chose "fun" names for the number font sizes (like mild and hot), in part to differentiate them from the text fonts, and to avoid meaningless questions like "is mild bigger or smaller than small." Then again, they both have "medium".

I could be wrong about that, and maybe they just did it for fun.

Either way, I don't see any implicit or explicit guarantee that the relative sizes of number and text fonts should be consistent or "make sense"

FlowState said:

Well I assume you mean FONT_MEDIUM vs FONT_NUMBER_MILD (there is no "FONT_MILD").

That was my typo, but no, I meant FONT_NUMBER_MEDIUM and FONT_NUMBER_MILD.

Provides no further clarity!

Alan.raceQs said:

That was my typo, but no, I meant FONT_NUMBER_MEDIUM and FONT_NUMBER_MILD.

Oh in that case I would say that FONT_NUMBER_MEDIUM should always be bigger than FONT_NUMBER_MILD.

All I'm saying is that it is not explained in the Guide.

And my post is simply about some shortcomings in the Guide.