Display Problem - Report Definition Screen

[John Moran 0]

Coincidentally with the Forum going down, I decided to finally upgrade from TMG 5.15 to 6.03 to play with the problems.

 

The Report Definition Screen font size problem for Journal and other reports at 800x600 pixel resolution on 15-19 inch CRT monitors seems to be caused by too much information in the TMG sub window bounding box.

 

That is, at 800 x600 resolution, which many of us need with our old CRT monitors, it is necessary to turn off All TMG Toolbars as well as the Windows Toolbar at the bottom of the monitor to regain control of the Report Definition Screen at the non-maximized setting so it is readable.

 

Note that the fonts may be unreadably small when the sub window is maximized with a low quality CRT monitor.

 

Solution: Buy a new LCD monitor with higher usable resolution, temporarily turn off all toolbars to generate reports, or , perhaps, move the Windows toolbar to the side. Didn't try that. Hate to try to get it back to the bottom after it accidentally moves to the side on its own.

John M.

[John Moran 0]

Further experimentation with the Report Definition Screens in TMG 6.03 indicates that on my 17" Cathode Ray Tube monitor at 800x600, the TMG Toolbar can be left in place semi-permanently if only one row of Small Buttons is used.

 

However, it is necessary to temporarily hide the Windows XP Taskbar at the bottom of the screen to gain a few pixels or the sub window screen is unreadable. Hiding and unhiding the Windows Taskbar can be a nuisance when generating reports, but is not that big a deal.

 

FYI, resizing the Screen in the TMG sub windows is sometimes easier if the upper left corner is grabbed with the mouse handle- as opposed to the lower right corner.

 

One user on TMG-L pointed out the existence of the "Clear Type" option in Windows Display Properties (Right click on a blank area of the Desktop, or go through Control Panel.) In my experience with my CRT monitors, the Clear Type option appears to make fonts fuzzier, not sharper.

 

All users by now are probably aware that each monitor may have its own "sweet spot" for best resolution. The newest LCD screens tend to have a higher sweet spot than the older CRT monitors. Flat screen, or other newer CRTs *may* have better clarity at higher resolution than older CRTs. Depends! But it is obvious that the beta testers and developers ignored the small font problem for TMG 6.

 

Once again, the problem is caused by the use of too many rows of text and option buttons on the Report Definition Screen of the Journal Report and certain other reports to display properly in 600 (or less in the real world) vertical pixels.

 

Everybody's mileage may vary.<g>

John M.

[Terry Reigel 0]

John,

 

I'm a bit surprised at the sudden interest in this issue, since the Report Definition screens have not changed, so far as I know, since the introduction of TMG 6 last December or thereabouts.

 

We are talking about the Report Definition Screen, right? It's the same for all the Narrative reports, and those are taller than the corresponding screen for the box charts and most of the other reports.

 

I think I see the problem - at my preferred size, those screens run around 545 pixels high, which would be pretty tight on an 800 x 600 screen.

[John Moran 0]

John,

 

I'm a bit surprised at the sudden interest in this issue, since the Report Definition screens have not changed, so far as I know, since the introduction of TMG 6 last December or thereabouts.

 

We are talking about the Report Definition Screen, right? It's the same for all the Narrative reports, and those are taller than the corresponding screen for the box charts and most of the other reports.

 

I think I see the problem - at my preferred size, those screens run around 545 pixels high, which would be pretty tight on an 800 x 600 screen.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Teri,

Sudden for me, yes, as I finally got around to installing TMG 6 and the 6.03 update today. But it surely is not sudden to all the users who have been steadily commenting on the subject of "too small fonts" on TMG-L (as seen on Rootsweb).

 

It was easy for me to take a pot-shot at this issue, as I cannot comfortably use my 17" CRT at a resolution higher than 800x600. However, I had no trouble reading an MS Access screen at much higher resolution the other day on another person's "Notebook" computer. I guess the merchandisers don't like to call them laptops anymore, because most of them get too hot. One reason for the heat may be lighting up that bright, high resolution screen.

John M.