[Q] Windows 8.1 Modern UI DPI Scaling - Windows 8 General

Hello all,
So I bought a Dell Venue 8 Pro and so far I really like it.
I have managed to configure the desktop so it is readable through some scaling and text sizes. However, the Modern UI is still very small and I am actually getting a little bit of a headache due to small text and tiles.
I have tried to figure out how to change the scaling and the text size but the "Change the size of apps, text, and other items on the screen" is greyed out. I guess this is due to the screen resolution of the device.
But there must be another way to configure this. I have seen some registry keys which is assosiated with the Modern UI but all these only seems to work with Windows 8.
Any thoughts?

No input at all? It must be possible in some way
olesch said:
Hello all,
So I bought a Dell Venue 8 Pro and so far I really like it.
I have managed to configure the desktop so it is readable through some scaling and text sizes. However, the Modern UI is still very small and I am actually getting a little bit of a headache due to small text and tiles.
I have tried to figure out how to change the scaling and the text size but the "Change the size of apps, text, and other items on the screen" is greyed out. I guess this is due to the screen resolution of the device.
But there must be another way to configure this. I have seen some registry keys which is assosiated with the Modern UI but all these only seems to work with Windows 8.
Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

The only thing that really comes to mind is setting the display resolution lower, but of course that will cost you detail and definition on things that ought to be rendered at high DPI (like text and images).

olesch said:
Hello all,
So I bought a Dell Venue 8 Pro and so far I really like it.
I have managed to configure the desktop so it is readable through some scaling and text sizes. However, the Modern UI is still very small and I am actually getting a little bit of a headache due to small text and tiles.
I have tried to figure out how to change the scaling and the text size but the "Change the size of apps, text, and other items on the screen" is greyed out. I guess this is due to the screen resolution of the device.
But there must be another way to configure this. I have seen some registry keys which is assosiated with the Modern UI but all these only seems to work with Windows 8.
Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I came across this on Google and just wanted to drop in and +1 this. I have the desktop configured with 150% scaling, but no settings seem to exist to increase the size of everything in the Modern UI. Hopefully someone else will come across this with some kind of solution. Merry Christmas!

I also bought Venue 8 Pro and find this also the only isue. I was googling a lot and it seems Microsoft requires minimum 1440x1080 resolution for 140% scaling in Windows 8. There is no way or hack for now that can go around this isue:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh465362.aspx
Even those hacks with register to make Windows 8 think screen is smaller wouldnt work, because the isue here is resolution not screen size that that hack changes!
Damm Microsoft, why allow tablet makers to use 1280x800 on 8" if you dont support it well!
I Will survive for now, i have good eyes and at least Metro IE browser has its own setting for making at least browsing larger.
This should be a high priority isue, Microsoft is going big with 8" tablets and all the cheap ones Will have 1280x800....
P.S.: 8" Windows 8 tablet still ROCKS. But if possible go buy one with higher resolution(doesnt existt for now).
Edit: I just recalculated the scaling. 1080 height would not help at all, because it is exactly 40% more pixels than 768... So i gues only Microsoft can change this for 8" tablets. Either by making everything bigger(Will make it hard for developers) or more easily by scaling text seperatly.

I've managed to somewhat improve it by scaling Segoe UI font. So now most of Windows UI looks ugly, but more readable.
So what I have now is
1) 150% DPI scale for desktop (Control Panel\Appearance and Personalization\Display)
2) 150% scaled Segoe UI font
Sometimes these 150% overlap (giving 225% total)
To try this:
1) copy attached fonts to your fonts directory without installing it (use .bat file attached and run it as administrator)
2) let windows use new files instead of original ones (run fonts150.reg or fonts125.reg for smaller scaling)
3) sign out - sign in

nice hack
burma said:
I've managed to somewhat improve it by scaling Segoe UI font. So now most of Windows UI looks ugly, but more readable.
So what I have now is
1) 150% DPI scale for desktop (Control Panel\Appearance and Personalization\Display)
2) 150% scaled Segoe UI font
Sometimes these 150% overlap (giving 225% total)
To try this:
1) copy attached fonts to your fonts directory without installing it (use .bat file attached and run it as administrator)
2) let windows use new files instead of original ones (run fonts.reg)
3) sign out - sign in
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WOW nice hack you have here! Didn't know you can change font size via font files. Great work on TrueType files man!
Would it be hard to also make a 125 version(so it doesnt stand out that much over still smaller UI.)? I think i could like this hack enough for everyday use!
P.S.: the small "f" on keyboard is wrong, and for .bat i would add in begining this line, so it works for everyone: "cd /d %~dp0"

CommanderThor said:
WOW nice hack you have here! Didn't know you can change font size via font files. Great work on TrueType files man!
Would it be hard to also make a 125 version(so it doesnt stand out that much over still smaller UI.)? I think i could like this hack enough for everyday use!
P.S.: the small "f" on keyboard is wrong, and for .bat i would add in begining this line, so it works for everyone: "cd /d %~dp0"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Added 125 fonts. Not sure what "cd /d %~dp0" does though, on my computer it just gives "path not found" error

Oh nice, i find the 125% version looking fairly good on my 8" Dell Venue 8 Pro, that is i find it better than default, no matter the smal distortion it causes.
Thanks!
Let us know if you update your fonts file again.
As for your bat file it shows me error "cannot find the file specified" when i run it. But after i add that cd command(without the citation marks) it works fine for me.. That command is supposed to change the dir to "where you are running your .bat file from", works fine for some other .bat files i have..

Burma, Thanks so much for the workaround. Didn't know there is a base UI font and there is mapping between font name and font file. A 25% increase in text size works wonder. I wonder why MS can't get such trivial thing right.
Now if I can find a way to disable the random zoom in/out while scrolling screen in IE!
I got a cheap EC Technology Bluetooth keyboard for $14 from amazon. It works pretty well and avoid having the onscreen taking up a lot of screen real estate.

burma said:
I've managed to somewhat improve it by scaling Segoe UI font. So now most of Windows UI looks ugly, but more readable.
So what I have now is
1) 150% DPI scale for desktop (Control Panel\Appearance and Personalization\Display)
2) 150% scaled Segoe UI font
Sometimes these 150% overlap (giving 225% total)
To try this:
1) copy attached fonts to your fonts directory without installing it (use .bat file attached and run it as administrator)
2) let windows use new files instead of original ones (run fonts150.reg or fonts125.reg for smaller scaling)
3) sign out - sign in
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It works fine but the resulted font look very bad can you make the some fix but with a different font? e.g. Verdana font I think will look better... anyway great idea! and thank you.

Thanks so much Burma for the fix.
I've tried the windows magnifier, and the experience is awful on a tablet (it works great on any laptop)
I also tried reducing the resolution, but the biggest problem with that is the loss of widescreen because all the resolutions below the 1280 x 800 default are 4:3
I'm glad I only paid $250 for this tablet, i'm not enjoying Windows 8.1 on a tablet (like I do on PCs).

Related

PPC Phone Edition - Accessability features

This is my first post and hopefully it raises an interesting issue.
I am partially sighted and have just got an XDA II. I really like it but I find some of the fonts in some of the applications to be rather small. I know about increasing Font size in Contacts/Calendars/Tasks etc. but I'm thinking more on the SMS/Email inboxes and on the Today screen.
In comparison I have used an SPV E200 which has accessability features available from the Settings menu. I had a large font homescreen set abd large fonts were used throughout the system - it made reading SMS's a breeze.
Is there a awy of increasing the font size througfht out all the applications as the smartphone seems to allow.
At a bare minimum I want to be able to create and read sms and emails using a larger font.
If the system font cannot be increased in these applications, has any one got suggestions for PPC PE applications that I can download and use.
I look forward to the responses.
Regards,
Mike
Yeah you can change everything, font sizes, colors,,, everything..
Download Nyditot Virtual Display (http://www.nyditot.com)
It has an appearance option much like the one in Windows 2000/XP

OzVGA,I thought i am not stupid.But This thing is killing me

OzVGA is totally killing me. I have spent hours trying to make mu ozVGA setting work, but bloody thing is just do small.
After applying the VGA .dll's WHAT OZVGA SETTINGS DO YOU USE???
When i switch from seVGA to ozVGA things just go crazy small.
WHAT'S WRONG???
in oz im using these settings
1200 not bold
1350 not bold
19
19
19
750,900,975,1200,1500
The font arrays relate to the text size slider in the screen settings
I'm using the same font sizes for true VGA and for the qVGA-mode. It means that fonts are small on the screen but oh so beautiful! Larger font sizes just made certain things look ugly, which kinda defeated the purpose of switching to VGA, IMHO.
I guess it depends what you're using your Universal for. Most of the apps I'm using allow me to scale their fonts so when I need larger fonts I can have them. Only the Microsoft apps have unscalable fonts...
Make sure you have the text size set to medium in the Screen control panel applet. I found that it helps to turn Cleartype OFF as well.
And I wear glasses
what about phone app, myne goes all funny, and very small. I can barely see numbers, and the whole keypad just stays at the corner of the screen. that,s abir annoying.
and I think I will have to wear glasses very soon with text size like that.
svyatko - this is all being discussed in the other thread, with suggestions for replacements etc...
V

cLaunch mods for large icons (CAB and source included)

cLaunch is GREAT, but unfortunately it doesn't handle icons larger than 32x32 pixels all that well. I wanted to create a bunch of big 48px photo shortcuts (32 was just too small!). However, even with a 48px bitmap, cLaunch just crops to 32px and scales up to 48px. Results are not what I wanted, and ugly.
So I created a hacked up version of cLaunch (based on version 12.04, 11 Jan 2008) and I called it cLaunch_48px. It works just like the normal cLaunch does... The only difference is apparent if...
you set the icon size to 48 AND
have a 48px bitmap file as the icon
...it WILL show the entire 48px bitmap, without distortion. Your icon size should be set to exactly 48px in cLaunch, otherwise you will see the regular cLaunch behavior. Note: You can still use any size icons you want, you'll just get the default behavior. For example, I have one tab with 32px icons and another with 48px.
To use: download the CAB and install as normal. It can even coexist with an existing cLaunch installation. This version will share settings with any existing cLaunch installation so you won't need to do anything special to import. You do not need to remove your existing cLaunch, if you have it installed already. Use at your own risk so backup your \Windows\cLaunch.dat file just to be safe.
To hack--experts only: Source code included as zip (project/solution file is VStudio 2008). The only file changed from the original is main.cpp, included in zip (other than vstudio project files). FYI: If you want, you could create an even bigger version (such as 64px) modeled after this version (diff main.cpp with the original cLaunch 12.04 version)... I didn't do that here for two reasons (1) I didn't want 64px icons and (2) supporting both 48px AND 64px icons would use up too much memory.
If I get a chance sometime, I might actually provide a screenshot, but it won't look much different than a typical cLaunch screenshot, expect for nice and clear 48px icons.
Works great with go2contact (created by me).
Also, SUPER THANKS to the creators of cLaunch!
??????
Great Idea. I like claunch because of its small siZe, but I don't use it because of the small Icons. Tried the prog and it doesn't work. Icons remain at 32 even after I resized them. I can tell they are larger because it only shows a portion of it. Is there a setting somewhere that I'm missing?
Got IT
OOPs figured it out. Works Great. Thanks
_craig said:
cLaunch is GREAT, but unfortunately it doesn't handle icons larger than 32x32 pixels all that well. I wanted to create a bunch of big 48px photo shortcuts (32 was just too small!). However, even with a 48px bitmap, cLaunch just crops to 32px and scales up to 48px. Results are not what I wanted, and ugly.
So I created a hacked up version of cLaunch (based on version 12.04, 11 Jan 2008) and I called it cLaunch_48px. It works just like the normal cLaunch does... The only difference is apparent if...
you set the icon size to 48 AND
have a 48px bitmap file as the icon
...it WILL show the entire 48px bitmap, without distortion. Your icon size should be set to exactly 48px in cLaunch, otherwise you will see the regular cLaunch behavior. Note: You can still use any size icons you want, you'll just get the default behavior. For example, I have one tab with 32px icons and another with 48px.
To use: download the CAB and install as normal. It can even coexist with an existing cLaunch installation. This version will share settings with any existing cLaunch installation so you won't need to do anything special to import. You do not need to remove your existing cLaunch, if you have it installed already. Use at your own risk so backup your \Windows\cLaunch.dat file just to be safe.
To hack--experts only: Source code included as zip (project/solution file is VStudio 2008). The only file changed from the original is main.cpp, included in zip (other than vstudio project files). FYI: If you want, you could create an even bigger version (such as 64px) modeled after this version (diff main.cpp with the original cLaunch 12.04 version)... I didn't do that here for two reasons (1) I didn't want 64px icons and (2) supporting both 48px AND 64px icons would use up too much memory.
If I get a chance sometime, I might actually provide a screenshot, but it won't look much different than a typical cLaunch screenshot, expect for nice and clear 48px icons.
Works great with go2contact (created by me).
Also, SUPER THANKS to the creators of cLaunch!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi craig,
good job. Would you by any chance have an idea why claunch 1204 would show only a quarter of the icons (and what's worse, only a quarter of the setup menus) on VGA (x51v)?
Do you think there's anything to be done about it? I like claunch 1203 but there the icons are shown with pixel doubling and therefor very coarse.
cheers
kuifje
kuifje_xda-developers said:
Would you by any chance have an idea why claunch 1204 would show only a quarter of the icons (and what's worse, only a quarter of the setup menus) on VGA (x51v)?
Do you think there's anything to be done about it? I like claunch 1203 but there the icons are shown with pixel doubling and therefor very coarse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't know much about 12.03 and what changed with 12.04. However, with 12.04, from what I could tell by the code: it's best to use 16 and/or 32 px icons/bitmaps (or 48 if you're running cLaunch_48px) and show them at their native size. Otherwise, scaling/cropping will occur.
craig,
I am only using this for shortcuts to regular apps with their own built-in icons. I suppose they are 32*32.
When I set the icon size to 16*16, i see the icon in normal resolution but only the upper left quarter of it.
When I set the icon size to 32*32 I still see only a quarter, but now with pixel doubling, instead of the whole icon in normal resolution. When I set the icon size to 64*64 I see the entire icon, with pixel doubling, but distorted at the bottom.
Also, the upper left corner of the icons is shown in the setup screen, and of the settings and options dialog (and ONLY those), only the upper left corner is shown (this makes it impossible to configure the settings, but I can still do that through claunch 1203 which I have installed also.
can you see anything VGA-related in the code?
Kuifje
I have installed the CAB file but when I go to change the icon size to 48, the icons appears tiled on my today screen. The icons are 32*32 and tiled in the allowed 48 icon size. Do I need to make changes to additional settings??
Hi,
I have a freshly purchased Ipaq 214, and i use to use Claunch on my Asus620.
the Ipaq is VGA, and i have same behaviour you mention, ie can only see quater of the configuration menu... which does not really allow to tweak the interface, and finally makes it unusable!
not to be too particular, but 48 point is too large. can you hackup another version that accept 36-40 pixel? thank you so much if you could.
cLaunch Settings
I am a little slow on how these things work outside of loading them and adjusting the settings so this could be me being dense, but I am hoping someone can help.
I just went from a Touch to a Touch Pro and when I loaded cLaunch it is tiny on the screen. When I go into the settings the left side of the screen has some info, and on the right some of the tabs are there but cut off, and I can't get to the other ones.
I have tried the version above as well as 12.03 (which says it is not a valid pocket pc app and can't be loaded) and 12.04. I have loaded cLaunch.dat into the windows folder and see my shortcuts on the screen but they are very, very small.
Is this a setting I need to change? I have been through all the settings I can think of. I love this app and would appreciate any help anyone can give me to make this work.
vincej said:
I just went from a Touch to a Touch Pro and when I loaded cLaunch it is tiny on the screen. When I go into the settings the left side of the screen has some info, and on the right some of the tabs are there but cut off, and I can't get to the other ones...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having the same problem and I'm pretty sure that it's the touch pro has the TFT 480 x 640 px and the Mogul was 240 x 320 px (Half) I don't know much but I'm sure thats the problem. I'm having this same issue with a few of my old apps (Skyfire, Music ID, Claunch) I'm bummed Can anyone offer a tweak or solution?
bump please make a vga version
Pls a VGA Version.
It donĀ“t runs in my new HTC TOUCH HD
Many thanks,
Omnia qvga it does not work
It looks nice, but when I set the setting for icons to 48 icons are tiled. It does not show the full 48x48 icon when set to smaller size. I have not the tools to do it myself. Thanks for any help.
vincej said:
I am a little slow on how these things work outside of loading them and adjusting the settings so this could be me being dense, but I am hoping someone can help.
I just went from a Touch to a Touch Pro and when I loaded cLaunch it is tiny on the screen. When I go into the settings the left side of the screen has some info, and on the right some of the tabs are there but cut off, and I can't get to the other ones.
I have tried the version above as well as 12.03 (which says it is not a valid pocket pc app and can't be loaded) and 12.04. I have loaded cLaunch.dat into the windows folder and see my shortcuts on the screen but they are very, very small.
Is this a setting I need to change? I have been through all the settings I can think of. I love this app and would appreciate any help anyone can give me to make this work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello
I'm new on this forum and would like to confirm exactly the same problems on my HTC Touch HD.
I've been using this software for years on my old MIO, but I must now move to another soft for my HTC.
Like other people in this thread, I really would like to come back to Claunch.
Any chance to get it upgraded ?
Many thanks for that wonderfull software.
I would like to have Claunch size 64
Hi,
I am very happy with Claunch size 48, but it would be better en size 64 : the friend of my mother had an AVC and he can't speak.
I put pics and shortcut to .mp3 : when he clic on one pic, the pocket PC read a little sentence.
He can use it in size 48, but it would be easier in size 64.
Many thanks for that wonderfull software.
Excuse my bad english, I am french....
Chantal
vga screen
it doesn't work with vga screen .. ie v900
it would be kind if it was possible to make it working for vga screen
many thanks
plus 1 on this if anyone can make a higher res icon version for wvga
would like to try this on the HD2 but icons are only a quater size with this version.
Can you get exe instead of today's plug in?
What i mean can we also jave claunch.exe which can be excuted from PPC as stand alon application instaed of today's plugin

Idea for outlined fonts - thoughts please

Having worked with rlToday, and currently coding an app to do something similar, I have wanted a couple of times to display text with an outline (ie white text with black outline so it is visible on any background) but simply printing a black version of the text in a bigger font underneath white text in a smaller fontsize does not work because of the way fonts are scaled.
However, this got me thinking...
What if one were to design a set of custom fonts for this purpose?
The way I am thinking, you would need two fonts - an "inner" version and an "outer" version. The outer version would have to be scaled about the centre of the letter, not about the baseline, and I would imagine that the spacing on the inner font would need to be as wide as the characters on the outer font.
So, before I waste loads of time getting font editors and seeing if it can be done, I would like to ask if anyone knows if this would be feasible, or if they have successfully done it or failed.
Another idea I suppose would be to print the outer font 4 times (left one, right one, up one, down one) - I guess this would have the same effect but at the cost of speed.
In an ideal world, it would be nice to not have to make an inner font - just to have to make an outer version of existing fonts, but I am not sure this would work unless you could set the spacing of the stock inner font wider.
Comments, suggestions please.
The classic path approach isn't working on WM?
Ultimatelaunch does it...I have two colored text and it looks pretty sweet. The font is called 'juice' not sure if that has anything to do with it though
What is this "Classic path" method you speak of?
At a guess I think you mean drawing a line around the font programatically?
This is not an option for some things, unless you have access to the source code - it would be nice to have a solution that could be implimented without needing to code for it in the app. For example, rlToday would benefit nicely from just such a system.
OK, so it has been done before then, although I did search around the net before I posted, honest!
It seems that the term used for the "inner" font is a "fill" font. I am going to try and find a freeware fill + outline font combo, pls let me know if you are aware of any.
Synned said:
Ultimatelaunch does it...I have two colored text and it looks pretty sweet. The font is called 'juice' not sure if that has anything to do with it though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you say "Ultimatelaunch" does it - what do you mean? I bought UL and I do not see the font on my system or in the UL dir.
I see a "juice" font on the internet that is a fill+outline set, but it is not free.
So if it is possible, I may well have a bash at doing a free one myself. At the very least it would be worth doing just the numbers for SMS / email counts in rlToday
An update here:
My main use for something like this was to be with applications such as rlToday.
However, stefanux is now writing XIAMultiTheme (XMT) which is compatible with, and extends rlToday. One of the things XMT does is allow you to specify a directory as a font, and it will look for image files named accordingly
ie if you wanted to print "123" you would need "1.png", "2.png" and "3.png" in the directory you specify.
I have made a 16px high font of numbers in transparent PNG (Great for overlaying message counts onto icons) and added it to the XMT project for now.
If the need is still there in a while I will look at making a fill font combo and releasing it, maybe as part of the XMT project, but for now this is a good enough solution for me.
dupe post deleted

new "iphone panel"

http://www.xperiax1.net/forum/third-party-apps/1503-iphone-panel-2.html#post15224
randy_c said:
http://www.xperiax1.net/forum/third-party-apps/1503-iphone-panel-2.html#post15224
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes... it is a good one. Thanks for sharing.
Tried it, works good
I wonder if HTML panels support Flash? If yes, then one could probably create more awesome looking stuff...
does the panel itself scroll to the left or right just like the iphone when you try to swipe the panel to the side? thanks.
--------
Voltus5 said:
does the panel itself scroll to the left or right just like the iphone when you try to swipe the panel to the side? thanks.
--------
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does not. Also, there is no way to change the settings (for example the background image).
One thing that bothers me is that I have to quickly double-click to open a shortcut, not just a single-click.
dogans said:
It does not. Also, there is no way to change the settings (for example the background image).
One thing that bothers me is that I have to quickly double-click to open a shortcut, not just a single-click.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i believe u can...by changing the image in the panels under device programs...
pls correct me if i'm wrong,,
You can indeed change it, but you need to know some basic HTML.
I was trying to update this panel myself so that the clock actually told the time not a static image and also the calendar shows the correct day/date.
The calendar shouldn't be too hard, but so far I cannot find a Javascript clock that works with the HTML panel. Sadly the HTML panel does not even seem to support as many features as Pocket IE which itself is dated.
Although the single most annoying thing for me is that the HTML panels only gives you 240x350 resolution to work with as for some odd reason it won't do 1:1 pixel ratio, all images are doubled in size. This stops it looking quite as polished as you can see the pixels whereas the X1 screen is such a good pixel density you normally can't make out the individual pixels. So much so I hadn't even realised ClearType was turned OFF on mine, as the pixels were so small the improvement from turning it on was minimal compared to on PC or a lower resolution XDA. It also makes positioning stuff on the page a PITA, that and most of the CSS positioning is not supported.
Can't running
I can't run this panel with the X2 launcher panel... Someone have a solution ?
And, I search this panel since 4 days (but this panel only ! not the cab with all the x1 panel) :
< img.eprice.com.tw/img/news/8158/52.jpg >
(please copy and paste this link, I am a new user and I can't put link in my messages)
thanks for all.

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