I like the real world units idea. I don't know what it would involve to apply it across the framework. Would it replace the use of setting to px or compliment it? Would you go by millimeters or inches?
I think Adobe investigated this real world units. I don't know what happened with it. It might have been part of the Flex Mobile SDK. BTW Was that donated and if so Alex? I think you'd have to have an accurate DPI value from Flash Player or AIR to accomplish this correct? On Sun, Feb 26, 2012 at 1:43 PM, Erik Lundgren <e...@lndgrn.se> wrote: > Dear list, > > I would like to spend some time thinking about the "high level" concepts > in flex – the present and the not yet present. > > As I scribble in my notebooks my first halt seems to be the methodology > used for UI-measurement, and I need some community input: > > > Should Flex measure layouts in "real world units" or "device units"? > > > USE CASE PROBLEM > > UI layouts * should be tuned to the human motoric and sensory systems. > This can be achieved through the use of "real world units" (myTouchButton > always renders as 0.5 cm x 0.5 cm). If UI elements are laid out using > "device units" (eg pixels) different screen densities distorts the layout > experience as layouts are reused across screens (or print). > > * Layout = element size and position (and layering?). > > > PREFERRED SOLUTION > > Compose layouts using some "real world unit" (I would promote points). > Have Flex read the pixel density of the runtime screen and transpose the > layout to "device units" (eg Pixels). > > > PROBLEMS IMPLEMENTING THE SOLUTION > > The unit-translation-concept is present in flex today through the > applicationDPI property on Application, but its implementation is not exact > and based on the precondition that the FLEX can read correct screen ppi > values from its runtime. Sadly, this is not always the case. > > Present runtime: The flash class Capabilities seems to be reading the > operating systems abstractions of "real world units". On my computer (mac) > flash reads the screen ppi value as 72 px/inch. In reality my screens > density is 113 px/inch. This problem seems to be present on windows and > mobile operating systems as well. > > Possible future runtimes: On the HTML/CSS stack new "resolution" media > queries seems to be implemented. On the "native" stacks implementations > seems to be able to read the correct screen ppi values, though the web is > full of issues with broken values returned by drivers etc. > > > If there is no way to implement the unit-translationsolution described > above, Flex should implement some other concept for laying out UI elements. > > I've done research but some community input would be great: Can we find > reliable bridges between flex and the ppi values of the screen that renders > it? Thoughts? > > All the best > /Erik
