Subject: Re: [Bug 1416] - default font size is not saved to RTF files
From: Dom Lachowicz (dominicl@seas.upenn.edu)
Date: Tue Jun 12 2001 - 09:20:38 CDT
Hi Virgil,
> The problem with saving the default font size to an RTF file is not a
> "bug"
> per se in either MS-Word or AbiWord - it's just a difference between the
>
> two. Word uses a 10 point default font. AbiWord uses 12 point. If
> AbiWord
> wants to be generally accepted, it must find a way to translate its
> files
> into the format used by the most widely used word processor, i.e.
> MS-Word.
Actually, it is a bug in MS-Word. FWIW, MSFT created RTF and specified that the
default font size, if not specified, is 24hps, or 12 points. They are being
hypocrits by not adhering to their own spec, but when isn't this the case? ;-)
> I'm surprised that you would choose not to fix this problem when the
> problem
> is so easily fixed. Simply insert a \fs24 code at the beginning of any
> paragraph using the default font. If I change the font size to 14
> point,
> you insert a \fs28 code into the paragraph using the larger font size.
> But,
> if I change it back to 12 point, instead of inserting a \fs24 code, you
> remove all font size coding meaning the document is now at the mercy of
> whatever word processor happens to open it.
We might fix this "problem" as best as we can on our end. It's not wrong of us
to specify what amounts to redundant information, which (inadvertantly) covers
up a bug in MS-Word that's been there since at least Word95.
The larger problem at hand is round-tripping documents: Abi (correctly) assumes
that no \fs code == 24hps. Someone creating a document with MSWord and saving as
RTF will see a lot of 10 pt text, but there will be no \fs20 or \fs24 code in
the RTF itself. So how do we handle this? The (incorrect) way is to treat no \fs
code as 10pt font, but this is not what the spec says. So now someone creates a
doc on Word and it doesn't look the same in Abi because of a bug in Word. This
isn't cool, but not something that we can or should fix. We adhere to the spec
on importing.
If you want to export with the \fs24 code for default font sizes, I implore you
to send a patch. It's not incorrect behavior, but it's redundant and something
that Hub or I might commit.
Dom
> Other programs (for example, Atlantis) handle this very well by simply
> inserting the \fs24 code. It's an easy fix. I implore you to pursue
> it.
> >From: bugzilla-daemon@abisource.com
> >To: virgilarrington@hotmail.com
> >Subject: [Bug 1416] - default font size is not saved to RTF files
> >Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 07:25:52 -0500 (CDT)
> >
> >http://bugzilla.abisource.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1416
> >
> >hfiguiere@teaser.fr changed:
> >
> > What |Old Value |New Value
> >----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Status|OPEN |QA TO VERIFY
> > Resolution| |WONTFIX
> >
> >
> >
> >------- Additional Comments From hfiguiere@teaser.fr 2001-06-12 07:25
> >-------
> >This is a bug in word. According to MSFT own specifications:
> >"fsN Font size in half-points (the default is 24)."
> >
> >This means that Word is messing everything up by using 20 as a default
> >value (N
> >is in half points)
> >
> >WONTFIX
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b25 : Tue Jun 12 2001 - 09:36:56 CDT