Re: Are configuration & UI better in 4.2?
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg36842] Re: [mg36824] Are configuration & UI better in 4.2?
- From: "P.J. Hinton" <paulh at wolfram.com>
- Date: Sat, 28 Sep 2002 04:34:50 -0400 (EDT)
- Organization: "Wolfram Research, Inc."
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
On Fri, 27 Sep 2002, fjolsvit wrote: > As an example, I spent several hours trying to figure out how to tell > Mathematica to understand the delete key in the way most contemporary > systems understand it. I wanted to avoid modifying system > configuration files such as: > /usr/local/mathematica/SystemFiles/FrontEnd/TextResources/KeyEventTranslations.tr > > I expected to be able to change something in my own ~/.Mathematic > directory, but I could not figure out an obvious way to affect this > modification. If you could post a precise description of what you expect the Delete key to do when depressed, we could probably provide you with a clear cut answer of what needs to be done. > I want to adjust the font size used in the widgets, but again, I see > no ovbious means of modifying these attributes. I suspect it can be > accomplished by modifying the ~/.Mathematica/4.1/FrontEnd/init.m. > Perhaps to an experienced Mathematica user, the syntax and semantics > of this file are obvious. They aren't to me. The size of fonts in user interface elements is not specified through the Mathemtica init.m file. It is set through an X resource. If you are not familiar with resources, you may want to track down an introductory text on the X Window System. Information on application-specific resource settings can be found in the Mathematica Getting Started Guide: http://documents.wolfram.com/v4/GettingStarted/TroubleshootingUnixX.html The setting that you would need to adjust is XMathematica*fontList. The value of the resource is an X Logical Font Description field. > I also find the overall look & feel of the interface to be archaic. That's because Mathematica relies on the Motif library for user interface elements. http://www.opengroup.org/desktop/motif.html The appearance of these elements, such as the menu and scroll bars, would be the same for any other Motif application, such as the DDD debugger or releases of Netscape prior to verison 4. -- P.J. Hinton User Interface Programmer paulh at wolfram.com Wolfram Research, Inc. Disclaimer: Opinions expressed herein are those of the author alone.