UI, font size, icon size far too small on 4k screens

[genox]

I know this probably has been posted many times already in the past.

Please, please, please:

• make the UI scale better on 4k displays, not just 2 font size presets
• increase the color contrast in dark mode on OSX
• scale icons with the UI

The number of times I have to squint and move my head closer to the screen just to be able to read some UI text is comical. Granted, I am old but Serif products are the only apps I have this issue with. And I write code in an IDE for the most part of the day..

This is the biggest issue I have with this software and the older I get, the more apparent things like this become.

It is not just uncomfortable to use, it actually causes me headaches.

 

Edited February 24, 2023 by genox

[Paul Mudditt]

On 2/24/2023 at 11:56 AM, genox said:

I know this probably has been posted many times already in the past.

Please, please, please:

• make the UI scale better on 4k displays, not just 2 font size presets
• increase the color contrast in dark mode on OSX
• scale icons with the UI

The number of times I have to squint and move my head closer to the screen just to be able to read some UI text is comical. Granted, I am old but Serif products are the only apps I have this issue with. And I write code in an IDE for the most part of the day..

This is the biggest issue I have with this software and the older I get, the more apparent things like this become.

It is not just uncomfortable to use, it actually causes me headaches.

 

And the reason I sold my LG 4K (3840 x 2160) monitor and replaced with 2x 2K (2560 x 1440)  monitors on my Mac Mini and also the reason Apple use 5K (5120x2880 but set /2 to 2560x1440 scaled by default) not 4K which /2 scales to a dismal 1920 x 1080.

[Peter Panino]

On 2/24/2023 at 12:56 PM, genox said:

I know this probably has been posted many times already in the past.

Please, please, please:

• make the UI scale better on 4k displays, not just 2 font size presets
• increase the color contrast in dark mode on OSX
• scale icons with the UI

The number of times I have to squint and move my head closer to the screen just to be able to read some UI text is comical. Granted, I am old but Serif products are the only apps I have this issue with. And I write code in an IDE for the most part of the day..

This is the biggest issue I have with this software and the older I get, the more apparent things like this become.

It is not just uncomfortable to use, it actually causes me headaches.

 

I thank Serif for providing at least two UI font sizes, as I am also using an LG ULTRAWIDE monitor. Unfortunately, APPLE does not provide system-wide font-scaling independent of resolution. I am asking myself whether Apple does not have the technological skills to provide resolution-independent font scaling like Windows does. Anyway, I wish Serif could provide an additional UI font size, as the second is still too small on my monitor.

[PaoloT]

2 hours ago, Peter Panino said:

I am asking myself whether Apple does not have the technological skills to provide resolution-independent font scaling like Windows does.

Apple wants that you buy their 5K monitors.

In any case, I'm working on an HP (LG) 4K display, using SwitchResX to set it at a comfortable resolution of 2304 x 1296 pixels.

Paolo

 

[Peter Panino]

2 minutes ago, PaoloT said:

Apple wants that you buy their 5K monitors.

In any case, I'm working on an HP (LG) 4K display, using SwitchResX to set it at a comfortable resolution of 2304 x 1296 pixels.

Paolo

 

What advantage does an Apple 5K motor have outside the 5K resolution?

I don't want to switch resolutions all the time. Apple should provide system-wide font scaling. I assume they have the engineers capable of doing that.

[Peter Panino]

6 hours ago, Paul Mudditt said:

Apple use 5K (5120x2880 but set /2 to 2560x1440 scaled by default) not 4K which /2 scales to a dismal 1920 x 1080.

Maybe Apple assumes that 4/5K monitor owners are all gamers or analphabets that don't need to read UI text on their monitor because they are used to controlling their app interfaces using icon buttons like in the 2006 movie "Idiocracy."

[Paul Mudditt]

1 hour ago, Peter Panino said:

What advantage does an Apple 5K motor have outside the 5K resolution?

I don't want to switch resolutions all the time. Apple should provide system-wide font scaling. I assume they have the engineers capable of doing that.

5K is divided by 2 to give a great retina like display AT SCALED RESOLUTION 2560 x 1440. ie. Exactly the same as a 2K monitor. 4K scaled gave dismal resolution on anything bigger than 21”, 4K native resolution without scaling everything is too small to see unless you watch on a much greater than 32” screen. So nothing to do with Serif, everything to do with hardware and Apple and getting ‘crisp sharp’ display. My lesson learned is save money and stay clear of 4K and go for 2K or go for 5K or larger if you want to use on 27”+ displays.

[PaoloT]

5 hours ago, Peter Panino said:

I don't want to switch resolutions all the time.

I can't really understand what my answer has to do with with "switching resolution all the time". Have you tried to see what the utility I cited does?

Paolo

 

[PaoloT]

3 hours ago, Paul Mudditt said:

My lesson learned is save money and stay clear of 4K and go for 2K or go for 5K or larger if you want to use on 27”+ displays.

Or use the cheap SwitchResX to get comfortable and crisp resolution even on a 4K monitor.

Paolo

 

[Paul Mudditt]

7 hours ago, PaoloT said:

Apple wants that you buy their 5K monitors.

In any case, I'm working on an HP (LG) 4K display, using SwitchResX to set it at a comfortable resolution of 2304 x 1296 pixels.

Paolo

 

But surely you realise that you have paid for an expensive 4K monitor and I bought 2 off 2K for less than the second hand price of my 4K and got a nice crisp 2560 x 1440 resolution which is higher than you are getting 2304 x 1296. Yes that fixed the problem of 4K but for others, a bit of a waste of money.

[PaoloT]

4 minutes ago, Paul Mudditt said:

But surely you realise that you have paid for an expensive 4K monitor and I bought 2 off 2K for less than the second hand price of my 4K

A 2K monitor doesn't give you HighDPI resolution, so it can't render the images with the same quality. My older HP 2K monitor is also a good one, but there is no comparison with what I can see with the 4K one. Then, it's not that the 2K one is not working. Just, it is not doing as well.

One more advantage of the 4K monitor is that one can switch to the higher resolution, if needed. Just thinking to my case: to see more channels in an audio mixer. I can also think to its use when doing video editing.

4K monitors are not all that expensive, at the moment. If one can afford one, I would suggest to go for one, considering how important a monitor is. As far as I can see, 5K monitors are still much more expensive than comparable-quality 4K ones, so I think that 4K displays are currently a reasonable compromise.

Paolo

 

[genox]

The UI offers two sizes, I do not see why it shouldn't be possible to add more.

Stuff like contrast issues have nothing to do with scaling. If the contrast would be better, it would neutralise the scaling issue to a certain extent. Unfortunately, people mix up "dark mode" with "extremely low contrast mode" frequently.