2016-10-14, 00:44
2016-10-16, 03:04
(2016-10-14, 00:44)qp9013625 Wrote:(2016-10-09, 21:49)rodalpho Wrote: only real option is use a different skin.
And which one?
Okay, I had never used any other skin than the default KODI skin until now.
But now I've checked out the other skins in the KODI skin repository myself, and there I found:
Mimic
The fonts and font sizes in Mimic are much better than in Estuary. Mimic allows to set several different fonts. Setting the font to Arial for example looks quite good and is much better readable than what Estuary offers.
All in all Mimic is way better than Estuary IMHO! It looks better, has much better readability and it also does not have as much empty space at the top/bottom/left/right side. Seriously, why isn't Mimic the new KODI default skin (instead of Estuary)?
(2016-09-13, 20:32)rodalpho Wrote: Thing is, we already know what sizes work-- TiVo did a ton of usability studies on this. When creating their SD UI back in 1998, targeting 4:3 CRT sets up to 27" large at 10 feet distance and 720x480p resolution, they used ENORMOUS fonts, with the entire screen functioning as a single horizontal list.
(Note, this is a native 4:3 image stretched to 16:9.)
I personally believe the original TiVo UI is the best 10' UI ever created. It is dead simple, with easily understood navigation-- left backs out, right drills in, and it's super easy to read yet not busy, retaining tons of whitespace. It has not yet been surpassed, including by TiVo themselves. Which takes us to...
Incredibly, the Mimic skin mentioned above, actually can provide that, you just have to open the side menu and set View = List, Slim list = Off, Wide list = On.
And it looks even better than in your screenshot
.Seriously, IMHO the Mimic skin beats Estuary in every aspect (no offense though).
Why isn't Mimic the default skin?
2016-10-18, 20:38
All these people moaning that they want a bigger font should either invest in a better monitor or maybe it's time you had your eyes tested, I have poor eyesight and yet I do not have the problems many gripe about, the current font is fine. All I have left to say now is.. Should've gone to Specsavers 
2016-10-19, 02:28
2016-10-19, 15:54
(2016-10-18, 20:38)Pasado Wrote: All these people moaning that they want a bigger font should either invest in a better monitor or maybe it's time you had your eyes tested, I have poor eyesight and yet I do not have the problems many gripe about, the current font is fine. All I have left to say now is.. Should've gone to Specsavers
coming from the guy using a modded skin...
2016-10-31, 09:48
Thanks to everyone who is behind Kodi, I've been "dabbling" with it as a replacement for Windows MCE for some time and I'm very excited that the latest Kodi together with DVB Logic's DVBlink as the TV backend will be my escape route from the now defunct Windows Media Center.
After carefully reading this whole thread and registering on the forum specifically to provide this feedback, I'm compelled to add a big +1 (pun intended) to the long list of people who find the default font size (especially in the TV guide) too small.
I have a 32" TV @ 10" in the bedroom and a 40" TV @ 10" in the living room and when I showed Kodi to my wife, one of her first comments when looking at the TV guide was ..."...but can you make the text bigger, it's quite hard to read". My own eyesight isn't what it used to be, and I have to agree, a little bigger would make the default skin much more useable.
One thing I find surprising having read the whole thread is that no one with an eye on the product development is saying "OK, seems like this might be a valid feature request, let's add it to the backlog".
I hope this comes to a resolution at some point, in the mean time, thanks to qp9013625 for suggesting mimic, I'll be taking a look at that this week.
After carefully reading this whole thread and registering on the forum specifically to provide this feedback, I'm compelled to add a big +1 (pun intended) to the long list of people who find the default font size (especially in the TV guide) too small.
I have a 32" TV @ 10" in the bedroom and a 40" TV @ 10" in the living room and when I showed Kodi to my wife, one of her first comments when looking at the TV guide was ..."...but can you make the text bigger, it's quite hard to read". My own eyesight isn't what it used to be, and I have to agree, a little bigger would make the default skin much more useable.
One thing I find surprising having read the whole thread is that no one with an eye on the product development is saying "OK, seems like this might be a valid feature request, let's add it to the backlog".
I hope this comes to a resolution at some point, in the mean time, thanks to qp9013625 for suggesting mimic, I'll be taking a look at that this week.
2016-10-31, 12:09
i second that.
estuary is great!
but...
65" plasma, 5.5m viewing distance, way too small fonts in epg.
32" lcd, 3.5m viewing distance, way too small fonts in epg.
20/20 vision b.t.w.
and it would be great to be able to filter the android app section, so that wifi settings app a.o. are not listed... just the apps i select.
and the ability to use a list view in favorites... the tiles are way too big, sice my favorites list is quite large.
estuary is great!
but...
65" plasma, 5.5m viewing distance, way too small fonts in epg.
32" lcd, 3.5m viewing distance, way too small fonts in epg.
20/20 vision b.t.w.
and it would be great to be able to filter the android app section, so that wifi settings app a.o. are not listed... just the apps i select.
and the ability to use a list view in favorites... the tiles are way too big, sice my favorites list is quite large.
2016-11-08, 02:15
(2016-10-31, 12:09)basco Wrote: estuary is great!
No, it's not. Just try the Mimic skin (use Arial as the font) and you will see how bad Estuary really is:
http://kodi.wiki/view/Add-on:Mimic
http://forum.kodi.tv/forumdisplay.php?fid=218
Mimic is directly available from the official KODI repository.
Seriously, Mimic is so much better than Estuary, one simply has to wonder why Mimic isn't the new default skin for KODI.
IMHO Mimic should be made the new default skin beginning with KODI 17 Krypton, not Estuary.
Mimic is not just better because it has a much better readability (with Arial font, which can be selected directly from the settings) and not just because it does not waste space at the top/bottom/left/right, but also because it has a much better interface design and a more intuitive menu structure.
But the KODI devs probably won't listen to that and won't make Mimic the new default skin, since they do not even listen on the Estuary font size problem...
2016-11-08, 09:52
ok, i will try mimic.
when i first used estuary i had a little trouble using it, but now after a couple of weeks it works really nice because of the grouping of the lastest used tiles, latest recordings etc etc. i didn't know this but i use the same things very often and estuary keeps thing u use often readily available.
i do wonder, when i switch to android, if i stil like estuary because all the android apps are in one list, you cannot exclude apps, but if it remembers the most used apps and puts them upfront i'm happy.
when i first used estuary i had a little trouble using it, but now after a couple of weeks it works really nice because of the grouping of the lastest used tiles, latest recordings etc etc. i didn't know this but i use the same things very often and estuary keeps thing u use often readily available.
i do wonder, when i switch to android, if i stil like estuary because all the android apps are in one list, you cannot exclude apps, but if it remembers the most used apps and puts them upfront i'm happy.
2016-11-11, 20:08
(2016-11-08, 07:30)Martijn Wrote: Indeed we won't listen!
So you are actually reading this thread even though you are not 'listening' !!!
All we are asking for is an option to select a larger font size in the settings the same as is available in the Confluence skin.
The term Massive font is probably misleading as most people would probably be happy with an option to increase the font size by around 20% to 30%.
So why not include this option ?
2016-11-12, 03:08
They did listen, they responded to the feedback and said they won't do it. The fact that you disagree with that decision doesn't mean they didn't listen.
It's a bummer, but the only option is to use a different skin or fork the skin.
It's a bummer, but the only option is to use a different skin or fork the skin.
2016-11-12, 21:51
True, it needs bigger font the new skin. I've tried to document the font.xml and found a few lines what they change so it would be easier to change only what you need, like only EPG, of course you have to test it yourself cause some fonts are used for more than one thing but as an idea here it is:
Keep in mind this one includes the changes I've made to look ok on my 24" ips display from ~2.5m distance. Near the font size you'll fine a comment which tells you what it changes. Hope it's helpful and not against rules.
Code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<fonts>
<fontset id="Default" idloc="15109">
<!-- Normal Fonts -->
<font>
<name>font10</name>
<filename>Lato-Regular.ttf</filename>
<size>26</size> <!-- DATE -- Under Title -->
</font>
<font>
<name>font12</name>
<filename>Lato-Regular.ttf</filename>
<size>31</size> <!-- text content -->
</font>
<font>
<name>font13</name>
<filename>Lato-Regular.ttf</filename>
<size>36</size> <!-- recently -->
</font>
<font>
<name>font14</name>
<filename>Lato-Regular.ttf</filename>
<size>40</size> <!-- main menu -->
</font>
<font>
<name>font16</name>
<filename>Lato-Regular.ttf</filename>
<size>43</size> <!-- keypad -->
</font>
<font>
<name>font30</name>
<filename>Lato-Regular.ttf</filename>
<size>53</size>
</font>
<font>
<name>fontContextMenu</name>
<filename>Lato-Regular.ttf</filename>
<size>38</size> <!-- item names/channel names -->
</font>
<font>
<name>font_textbox</name>
<filename>Lato-Regular.ttf</filename>
<size>34</size>
<linespacing>1.2</linespacing>
</font>
<!-- Title Fonts -->
<font>
<name>font10_title</name>
<filename>Lato-Bold.ttf</filename>
<size>30</size> <!-- epg content -->
</font>
<font>
<name>font12_title</name>
<filename>Lato-Bold.ttf</filename>
<size>33</size>
</font>
<font>
<name>font13_title</name>
<filename>Lato-Bold.ttf</filename>
<size>32</size> <!-- clock/title -->
</font>
<font>
<name>font20_title</name>
<filename>Lato-Bold.ttf</filename>
<size>36</size> <!-- tags/actors/artists/albums -->
</font>
<font>
<name>font24_title</name>
<filename>Lato-Bold.ttf</filename>
<size>42</size> <!-- channel number -->
</font>
<font>
<name>font28_title</name>
<filename>Lato-Bold.ttf</filename>
<size>46</size>
</font>
<font>
<name>font30_title</name>
<filename>Lato-Bold.ttf</filename>
<size>50</size>
</font>
<font>
<name>font35_title</name>
<filename>Lato-Bold.ttf</filename>
<size>58</size>
</font>
<font>
<name>font_MainMenu</name>
<filename>Lato-Bold.ttf</filename>
<size>66</size>
</font>
<font>
<name>WeatherTemp</name>
<filename>Lato-Bold.ttf</filename>
<size>126</size>
</font>
<font>
<name>Mono28</name>
<filename>AnonymousPro.ttf</filename>
<size>36</size>
</font>
</fontset>
<fontset id="Arial" idloc="31053">
<!-- Arial Font better for non English -->
<font>
<name>font10</name>
<filename>arial.ttf</filename>
<size>26</size>
</font>
<font>
<name>font12</name>
<filename>arial.ttf</filename>
<size>30</size>
</font>
<font>
<name>font13</name>
<filename>arial.ttf</filename>
<size>35</size>
</font>
<font>
<name>font14</name>
<filename>arial.ttf</filename>
<size>38</size>
</font>
<font>
<name>font16</name>
<filename>arial.ttf</filename>
<size>42</size>
</font>
<font>
<name>font30</name>
<filename>arial.ttf</filename>
<size>50</size>
</font>
<font>
<name>fontContextMenu</name>
<filename>arial.ttf</filename>
<size>32</size>
</font>
<font>
<name>font_textbox</name>
<filename>arial.ttf</filename>
<size>34</size>
<linespacing>1.2</linespacing>
</font>
<!-- Title Fonts -->
<font>
<name>font10_title</name>
<filename>arial.ttf</filename>
<size>23</size>
<style>bold</style>
</font>
<font>
<name>font12_title</name>
<filename>arial.ttf</filename>
<size>30</size>
<style>bold</style>
</font>
<font>
<name>font13_title</name>
<filename>arial.ttf</filename>
<size>35</size>
<style>bold</style>
</font>
<font>
<name>font24_title</name>
<filename>arial.ttf</filename>
<size>41</size>
<style>bold</style>
</font>
<font>
<name>font28_title</name>
<filename>arial.ttf</filename>
<size>47</size>
<style>bold</style>
</font>
<font>
<name>font30_title</name>
<filename>arial.ttf</filename>
<size>50</size>
<style>bold</style>
</font>
<font>
<name>font35_title</name>
<filename>arial.ttf</filename>
<size>57</size>
<style>bold</style>
</font>
<font>
<name>font_MainMenu</name>
<filename>arial.ttf</filename>
<size>60</size>
<style>bold</style>
</font>
<font>
<name>WeatherTemp</name>
<filename>arial.ttf</filename>
<size>128</size>
<style>bold</style>
</font>
<font>
<name>Mono28</name>
<filename>arial.ttf</filename>
<size>36</size>
</font>
</fontset>
</fonts>Keep in mind this one includes the changes I've made to look ok on my 24" ips display from ~2.5m distance. Near the font size you'll fine a comment which tells you what it changes. Hope it's helpful and not against rules.
2016-11-13, 00:44
