changing font not working in v8.6 (but changing size and color does work)

dr ramaanand

@Alan-Kilborn thank you! I just saved my file with every thing in that line in capital letters. That seems the only option.

Tobithy

My preferred font, Source Code Pro, is definitely a TrueType font, but it also is affected by this bug.

fonts dot google dot com/specimen/Source+Code+Pro (sorry breaking it up, I can’t post links)

Disabling DirectWrite allows me to use Source Code Pro again, thank you for the tip. This is just another data point.

Andi Kiissel

@Tobithy

N++ DirectWrite is set to Scintilla’s SC_TECHNOLOGY_DIRECTWRITE (1), but there are also SC_TECHNOLOGY_DIRECTWRITERETAIN (2) and SC_TECHNOLOGY_DIRECTWRITEDC (3).
In N++ UI this can not be changed, but you can try with scripting, for example with NppExec

sci_sendmsg SCI_SETTECHNOLOGY 3

I use Source Code Pro with DIRECTWRITEDC and quite happy with it.

Tobias Lind

I think I’ve found some more info on this issue.
When DirectWrite is enabled, I can only use the base version of the font. Any other variant will default to some fallback font.

E.g. “Bahnschrift” works, but none of its varians: “Bahnschrift Condensed”, “Bahnschrift Light”, etc.
“Ariel” works, but not “Ariel Black”, “Ariel Narrow”, “Ariel Rounded MT Bold”.

I’d like to use “Fira Code Medium”, but I’ll have to use “Fira Code”…

(I don’t want to turn off DirectWrite, because some chars won’t render properly without it)

xomx

@Andi-Kiissel said in changing font not working in v8.6 (but changing size and color does work):

In N++ UI this can not be changed,

In the upcoming N++ version (probably v8.7.8) these Scintilla rendering modes will be accessible via the standard N++ Preferences > MISC.: GitHub commit.

@Tobias-Lind said in changing font not working in v8.6 (but changing size and color does work):

When DirectWrite is enabled, I can only use the base version of the font. Any other variant will default to some fallback font.

The whole problem with the N++ DirectWrite mode & fonts is in the fact that the DirectWrite uses WSS (Weight-Stretch-Style) font family model whereas the older GDI RBIZ (Regular-Bold-Italic…) one. Notepad++ originally supported the older GDI font handling only, then it makes the newer DirectWrite mode accessible but did not accommodate the existing N++ GDI font handling code to match the WSS model of the DirectWrite font families.

There was a nice patch for the Scintilla library, which solves exactly that but unfortunately it has not been accepted. So someone has to fix that directly in the N++ codebase. There is the MS DirectWrite interface IDWriteGdiInterop helper intended exactly for that job, so maybe a challenge for someone capable with free time…?