Bug descriptions/comments much harder to read on Launchpad than other hosting services

[Matthew Paul Thomas]

1. Reset your browser to the default zoom level (e.g. Ctrl 0 in Firefox or Chromium).
2. Try to read this bug report.

What happens: The description and comment text is much harder to read than the same text would be on Github, Google Project Hosting, or Gnome Bugzilla.
https://launchpadlibrarian.net/83922219/Comparison%20of%20hosting%20services.png

Text readability depends on many factors. Launchpad differs most from those other services in font choice and optical size.

Optical size can be measured by width (which, for monospace fonts, is the same for every character) and by x-height. x-height is the height of a lower-case "x", and the approximate height of many other lower-case characters.

In a default Ubuntu installation at the default zoom level, glyphs in:
- Github reports are proportional width, with an x-height of 7 pixels;
- Google reports are 7 pixels wide, with an x-height of 7 pixels;
- Bugzilla reports are 8 pixels wide, with an x-height of 8 pixels;
- Launchpad reports are only 5 pixels wide, with an x-height of only 6 pixels.

This bug has two causes.

First, for bug descriptions, Launchpad's combo.css includes div#edit-description {font-family: "UbuntuBeta Mono","Ubuntu Mono",monospace} and .lazr-multiline-edit {font-size: 12px}. For comments, it includes .bug-comment {font-family: "UbuntuBeta Mono","Ubuntu Mono", monospace} and body {font-size: 12px}. On Ubuntu, the result is the same for both: Ubuntu Mono 12px.

Second, Ubuntu Mono is substantially narrower, *and* has a smaller x-height, than other monospace fonts.
https://launchpadlibrarian.net/83922266/monospace-compared.png

The embarrassing result is that Ubuntu bug reports are easier to read on any other OS (where Ubuntu Mono is not installed) than they are on Ubuntu itself.

Changing the Ubuntu Mono design would be expensive, so this bug is easiest fixed in Launchpad.

The simplest solution is to remove Ubuntu Mono from Launchpad's style sheet, and increase the font size.

Another solution is to increase the font size with Ubuntu Mono in mind. But the difference in optical size is large enough that this might cause descriptions and comments to look *too* large on machines where Ubuntu Mono is not installed.

Ideally it would be possible to use the CSS font-size-adjust property, to request the same x-height regardless of which font the browser used. Unfortunately font-size-adjust is implemented only in Gecko.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en/CSS/font-size-adjust

[Curtis Hovey (sinzui)]

There was talk of returning to ems instead of px a few months ago, which would increase the default Lp font-size's for most users. Would this address the issue?

We set the UbuntuMono font size differently from the Ubuntu font. We can increase it by a point.

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

Whether switching from px to ems would address the issue depends on how long a piece of string is. How many ems, exactly? Browsers default to 16px, so the current 12px = 0.75em. Any more than that would be an improvement. I haven't measured exactly how much increase would be enough to make Launchpad as easy to read as other hosting services.

The difficulty with setting the Ubuntu Mono font size differently is, as I mentioned, that Ubuntu Mono may not be installed. One way you could work around this would be to use a script to get the computed style of the text, to detect whether it actually is being rendered in Ubuntu Mono, and increase the font size if so. That might make Launchpad jumpy or slow, but maybe it's worth trying.

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

BTW I disagree that this is Low importance, since bug descriptions and comments are probably the most-looked-at things in Launchpad. (Maybe second only to bug statuses and importance levels.)

[Adam Porter (alphapapa)]

Apparently Natty doesn't have Ubuntu Mono, while Oneiric does, because as soon as I upgraded my systems, Launchpad comments suddenly became VERY HARD TO READ. Of course, the rest of the text on the page is fine, unchanged from before the upgrade.

This is NOT a bug of low importance. It should be top priority. Ubuntu Mono should be removed from the stylesheets immediately. I shouldn't have to squint to read the comments while the rest of the text is clear--especially not after UPGRADING my systems.

Is this a case of IWIHSIMBUEIIIU (It Was Invented Here So It Must Be Used Even If It Is Unsuitable)? The Ubuntu fonts may be fine for the Ubuntu site or for title bars and some UI elements--but clearly Ubuntu Mono is not suitable for general reading, because it's not clear.

Who has the authority to make this change? What is it going to take to get this problem fixed? What reason is there to make the text hard to read?

*mumbling about "progress" in software*

[Adolfo Jayme Barrientos (fitojb)]

@alphapapa, comment #6: I don't really think Ubuntu Mono is that bad. Set this text on Courier, then :-P

And why not load Ubuntu Mono as a web font, so the font-size can be increased without worrying about different fonts? This would be a good solution, and would solve issues when the font is not installed locally. Anyway, Launchpad already uses web fonts...

[Curtis Hovey (sinzui)]

Ubuntu Mono will be available as a web font when it is released. It is still beta.

[Adolfo Jayme Barrientos (fitojb)]

@sinzui: Are you sure? http://www.google.com/webfonts/specimen/Ubuntu+Mono

[Curtis Hovey (sinzui)]

I am wrong. I reported bug 918284 to track the issue.

[Andrea Corbellini (andrea.corbellini)]

> Changing the Ubuntu Mono design would be expensive, so this bug is easiest fixed in Launchpad.
>
> The simplest solution is to remove Ubuntu Mono from Launchpad's style sheet, and increase the font size.
>
> Another solution is to increase the font size with Ubuntu Mono in mind.

As you pointed out, the Ubuntu Mono font is smaller than any other monospace font. Isn't it a general problem? I mean: from the prosprective of the Ubuntu project, the Ubuntu Mono is considered a nice replacement for any monospace font, but it shouldn't require you to do extra work to make it look really nice.

It's true that modifying how Launchpad uses the font is the quickest solution, but I do think that other websites/applications/developers/users may be affected by the issue.

[Martin Pool (mbp)]

What an unfortunate situation.

Another partial solution is to use Markdown on Launchpad (bug 391780), which will mean monospace fonts are only used when they are only used when they are actually needed.

[Launchpad QA Bot (lpqabot)]

Fixed in stable r17007 <http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~launchpad-pqm/launchpad/stable/revision/17007>.

[Anton Vodonosov (avodonosov)]

Still not enought, the "Add comment" textfield is not monospace, you can not see how text is formatted when you type.