From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.io!.POSTED.blaine.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Stefan Kangas Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Increase default `line-spacing' to 0.05, 0.10 or 0.15 [proposal] Date: Tue, 4 May 2021 10:57:51 -0500 Message-ID: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Injection-Info: ciao.gmane.io; posting-host="blaine.gmane.org:116.202.254.214"; logging-data="26867"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@ciao.gmane.io" To: emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Tue May 04 17:59:29 2021 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([209.51.188.17]) by ciao.gmane.io with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.92) (envelope-from ) id 1ldxSK-0006sI-6Y for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org; Tue, 04 May 2021 17:59:28 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:49758 helo=lists1p.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1ldxSJ-0000W9-84 for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org; Tue, 04 May 2021 11:59:27 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]:52132) by lists.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1ldxQp-0007xJ-P8 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 04 May 2021 11:57:56 -0400 Original-Received: from mail-pf1-f176.google.com ([209.85.210.176]:34721) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_128_GCM_SHA256:128) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1ldxQo-0006jd-2H for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 04 May 2021 11:57:55 -0400 Original-Received: by mail-pf1-f176.google.com with SMTP id 10so8083457pfl.1 for ; Tue, 04 May 2021 08:57:52 -0700 (PDT) X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20161025; h=x-gm-message-state:from:mime-version:date:message-id:subject:to; bh=v8oce1sB4whPObTK00ZJONegTVdbxac9yRcZbe9uHBw=; b=AUzVjNISAFZZ3HdPGh6HWGl/kZ7dwnsEtOav7k3+5VwRvqOirpeB1jKgy2+dkIuebm gs9qJDFjYom0dtiPVTMXkJvSBJ2T30yDk3VNrvY95TqvUqFugeJa4GU4Xxn6mZvDJ2KR wMve62HF0L72IncHpe5tNggn4c4XEM4mLCr/OYC+J1YeM8lYHPhS7mncL6xArtIgIzNQ LVKKjfM2Die06RiV6NidRF71fdV0PBdOhyk0F4cx56cgThorkeu4vlgDL8k7Y1H7caLm WwGkG0U/u6nP0lJf8YpTHb/NmID5p064/39P+buRqQsQcpCRoI43y+lTQQIwvSH/hVmU zxqA== X-Gm-Message-State: AOAM531qdChDnEq9a+UglUeCxuQbEsCRqB2O21FIYkbhSUpLc4A4bOy1 tyJGXsi8NrDdUnRzaW+RBePhJLClvuERbt+37A/AWySA X-Google-Smtp-Source: ABdhPJxpygFpsR20Z9y+7Z/W1AlaeEBUklYGe+wdz7WWKMe01QAmwqGQixR5/eMqAxpWt1N5x8SGZp97Ge0xUiYfidY= X-Received: by 2002:a62:3344:0:b029:28c:6f0f:cb90 with SMTP id z65-20020a6233440000b029028c6f0fcb90mr22230486pfz.58.1620143871715; Tue, 04 May 2021 08:57:51 -0700 (PDT) Original-Received: from 753933720722 named unknown by gmailapi.google.com with HTTPREST; Tue, 4 May 2021 10:57:51 -0500 Received-SPF: pass client-ip=209.85.210.176; envelope-from=stefankangas@gmail.com; helo=mail-pf1-f176.google.com X-Spam_score_int: 41 X-Spam_score: 4.1 X-Spam_bar: ++++ X-Spam_report: (4.1 / 5.0 requ) BAYES_00=-1.9, FREEMAIL_FORGED_FROMDOMAIN=0.248, FREEMAIL_FROM=0.001, HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS=0.248, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE=-0.0001, RCVD_IN_MSPIKE_H2=-0.001, SPF_HELO_NONE=0.001, SPF_PASS=-0.001, TO_NO_BRKTS_PCNT=2.497, WIKI_IMG=3.009 autolearn=no autolearn_force=no X-Spam_action: no action X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.23 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: "Emacs-devel" Xref: news.gmane.io gmane.emacs.devel:268880 Archived-At: In typography, it is well known that the line height (leading) should be a bit larger than the font size to improve legibility. The drawback of a larger leading is that fewer lines of text are visible on the screen at the same time. Emacs by default uses a leading of the font size + a few pixels (the `line-spacing' variable is 0). Conventional wisdom seems to suggest instead that 1.2em (where 1em is the font size) is often a good choice.[1] Other editors also tend to use a larger leading than us.[2] I suggest that we increase the default value of `line-spacing' to improve legibility. I believe this would improve our OOTB experience for the majority users and use-cases. In cases where it doesn't, users are still free to revert to whatever was there before. Below are the three options that I suggest we consider. Note that "If [the] value [of `line-spacing'] is a floating point number, it specifies the spacing relative to the default frame line height." [I've included line numbers below for the three options on my screen and font size, but obviously YMMV.] A. Ideally, we would use 0.15 for maximum legibility. This is close to 1.2 em. [53 lines, 11.6 % fewer lines] B. We could also consider 0.10 to be more cautious. [56 lines, 6.66 %] C. A very conservative option is to use 0.05, which would be a small incremental improvement on what we already have. [58 lines, 3.33 %] D. The default. [60 lines, 0.0 %] All in all, I think option B would be best, as that means we lose very few lines on the screen (6 %). Alternatively, we could pick option C, which loses even fewer (3 %). The way I suggest we carry this out is an experiment on master for 30 days, similarly to how we recently did with unbinding `M-o'. This would allow us to gather feedback and see how well this works in practice. Footnotes: [1] See also this link for reference: https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/35270/is-there-an-optimal-font-size-line-height-ratio [2] See screenshots from some common editors here: VSCode https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1487073/58344409-70473b80-7e0a-11e9-8570-b2efc6f8fa44.png Atom https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Atom_screenshot_v1.41.0.png GEdit https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Gedit.png