Long standing Ultraedit problem with FIXEDSYS font and bold

[khariv]

I first noticed this problem back in UE 8 that I worked with in my previous company. I just downloaded a trial for ver 11 and I have unfortunately run into the exact same problem.

The problem is if you use the FixedSys font for the edit window and your syntax highlighting options indicate bold words, the edit cursor does not show up where it is supposed to be. Instead, the cursor is drawn at a seemingly random spot. Typing text still works fine, but of course you have no idea where the text is going to be inserted.

Setting the font to something other than FixedSys or setting your syntax highlighting to not use BOLD solves the problem. However, this is not really acceptable as I like FixedSys and my Bold highlighting.

Has anyone else run into this and, if so, how do you fix the problem. This is really frustrating as I cant tell where I am typing.

thanks
khariV

[Mofi]

The problem is that Fixedsys is a bitmap font and not a TTF (true type font). The letters are defined with pixels and not with vectors. And there is no bold version of Fixedsys. So it is not possible to change the size or the width of the letters as with vectorized fonts.

I don't really know how Windows handles the problem to display a bitmap font bold. Either it uses a completely different font for bold Fixedsys or it simply stretches it in width by resizing the bitmap. However, the application will not get back the correct width of the bold bitmap font.

On Windows XP the bitmap fonts like Fixedsys are hidden and cannot be used by default for Windows applications. They are just installed for compatibility issues especially for DOS boxes.

So to fix your problem, try to get a true type font which is a 100% replacement for Fixedsys or search in this forum for a good font for editing.

[khariv]

I know FixedSys is a bitmap font. The thing is, there are lots of other windows applications have no problem at all displaying bolded FixedSys. I use Delphi (defaults to FixedSys), ObjectEdit, etc. and all can do syntax highlighting using FixedSys. Its pretty much just UltraEdit that has a problem... argh...

I even tried downloading a TrueType FixedSys variant, but it doesn't come with a bold variety and UE doesnt bold it at all...

[Mofi]

I suggest, you write an email to IDM with a support request. Font problems are often and I am sure, IDM can help you quickly.

You can also search here in this forum for all problems with "font". Maybe you will find something, which could solve your problem.

[dmancine]

Thought I'd post this as a reply to this thread, because this thread gave me the answer to my problem.

In the Print Preview window, the text kept showing up in a variable-width font, even though I had chosen a fixed-width font (Courier) as my printer font. Text would print in a fixed-width font, it's just the preview that looked weird. I just had to have faith that it'd print correctly. Anyway, after reading the suggestions in this thread, I tried choosing a true type font (Courier New) as my printer font, and now both the Print Preview and actual printed text appear in fixed-width font.

[johnph77]

If available on your computer, have you tried Letter Gothic, Lucida Sans Typewriter and/or Lucida Console? They're listed in my fonts as TT fonts. I've used Lucida Console without any trouble....

[nico42]

The problem is, that FixedSys is a bitmap font and not a TTF (true type font). The letters are defined with pixels and not with vectors. And there is no bold version of FixedSys. So it is not possible to change the size or the line width of the letters as with vectorized fonts.

The same problem shows up with some TrueType fonts. I use one named "anoymous" which shows exactly the same annoying behaviour.
In Delphi this one works just fine, too, so it must be an UltraEdit problem.