Re: can't use meson for 'freetype-demos'

[Werner LEMBERG]

>> The next bunch of errors is below.
>
> All fixed, *force pushed* to branch `gsoc-2022-chariri-2`.

Thanks, it compiles now – and it looks good.  Great!

> * Support for non-outline glyphs like bitmap glyphs and SVG glyphs
> * Support for LCD hinting
> * Currently the rendering code for “Continuous View” is different
>   from the legacy ftview tool.  Need to further investigate if we
>   should adopt code from the legacy tool.
>
> I would like to know which should I prioritize.

This is up to you.  Do what you want to do first :-)

> I suddenly realized that we even don't need to use two different
> sub-tab for "All Glyphs" and "Text String" rendering.  What about
> having two parallel options:
> 
> - Render Mode: Normal, Fancy, Stroked, Waterfall (only available for
>   text string) 
> - Render Source: All Glyphs/CharMap, Text String, Repeated Text
>   String 
>
> And "Rotation" feature will be available for all modes.

Sounds good.  Honestly, I'm lacking fantasy how to present the glyphs
in the best way – I'm really bad at GUI design...


                          *    *    *


Some things I noticed, in random order, not necessarily directly
related to your current workings :-)  I will check your code later.

* I use a dark KDE theme; `ftinspect` looks as shown in the attached
  image.  As you can see, the selected colours are suboptimal.  I
  think that a 'dark' theme must be ignored for the grid background.

* It would be nice, however, to have an 'invert' option or radio
  button to invert the colours: black background, white pixels, etc.

Singular Grid View:

* I very much dislike the big 'help' screen explaining the scroll
  functionality.  Instead, based on KDE's 'dolphin' file manager, I
  suggest a small '?' button at the top right (directly left of the
  'minimize' and 'maximize' window icons); if pressed, the cursor
  changes to a cursor with a question mark, and the user can then
  click on interesting objects to get contextual help.  Of course, a
  similar, different solution would be fine, too.

* Ctrl+Scroll and Shift+Scroll doesn't work – I assume this isn't
  implemented yet?

* I suggest to make 'Ctrl-+' and Ctrl--' work for increasing and
  decreasing the font size, respectively, and 'Ctrl-0' for resetting
  to a default size.  Most people using a recent browser are expecting
  this, I guess.  Maybe Ctrl-Shift-[-+] can then do zoom?  Or vice
  versa?

* A radio button 'Show Grid', which is 'on' by default, would be quite
  valuable to let the user view the glyph by itself.

* (Maybe a KDE thing, I don't know the conventions used on Windows):
  Right now, using the arrow keys change the grid viewport in
  relatively small steps, and Ctrl/Alt have no influence.  What about
  making Ctrl/Alt plus arrow keys change that?  For example, under KDE
  I can move a window pixel-wise by adding the Ctrl key, and adding
  the Alt key yields much larger steps than the arrow keys without a
  modifier.


Continuous View:

* I think the '(for Fancy)' and '(for Stroked)' text strings should be
  removed.  This takes a lot of precious horizontal space, and greying
  out is sufficient IMHO.

* What about a 'zooming' feature, i.e., displaying the pixels twice,
  thrice, etc., as big as normal?

* I suggest to make 'Ctrl-+' and Ctrl--' work for increasing and
  decreasing the font size, respectively, and 'Ctrl-0' for resetting
  to a default size.  Most people using a recent browser are expecting
  this, I guess.  Maybe Ctrl-Shift-[-+] can then do zoom?  Or vice
  versa?

* I think it would be nice if a user could click onto a glyph to get
  more info: glyph name, character code, glyph index, glyph metrics
  (in font units, in pixels, in points), the dimensions of the
  displayed bitmap, etc.  Probably not a popup window but making the
  continuous view windows a bit smaller horizontally.

* What exactly does the 'Count:' field mean?  It isn't obvious.
  Perhaps a better name is needed.

* I suggest a radio button 'compact mode', which make `ftinspect` show
  all glyphs in the current cmap order but omitting unassigned slots.


    Werner