UI issues on high dpi screens

torerikk · 2016-04-20 23:37

I recently installed NetSetMan Pro on a Surface Pro 4 and noticed some issues caused by the scaling in Windows 10. All icons (in menus, on buttons etc.) are tiny, in some windows text is clipping and a few input controls don't have the correct size.

Mostly this is cosmetic issues, but the check boxes in the System Privileges preferences window are hard to use due to the clipping.

I've attached some screenshots to illustrate the problems.

NetSetMan Support · 2016-04-21 00:17

Making the UI compatible with high DPI screens is actually quite a difficult task that we improved piece by piece in the past. Most components aren't easy to scale. We believe we managed it quite well for most parts of the application. However, you're absolutely right in pointing out the remaining issues.

The network drives dialog is currently being completely reworked to receive a more consistent usability compared to the rest of the application (like in IP+, Connections, Programs, ...). For this reason, we skipped adjusting its current UI. So with ultra-high DPI scaling it looks quite "destroyed" at the moment, we're afraid.

Scaling the icons is unfortunately a very difficult topic. We're still trying to find a proper solution for this. The best solution would be to use larger versions of those icons, but for this, most icons would need to be completely recreated. Taking into account that there are about 100 (!) icons in the application would take a while and result in a much larger program file size. Simply stretching them causes them to be quite blurry. We're also experimenting with completely new ways. In the end, we'll probably end up with a combination of multiple methods. It simply needs some more time.

Notice, that even though the icons appear small (most of) their components are actually scaled, so the touch/click area is larger than the icons.

torerikk wrote:

the check boxes in the System Privileges preferences window are hard to use due to the clipping.

We've fixed that for the next release already. But those two checkboxes are actually only indicators that show the effect of the activated/deactivated NSM Service. They aren't actually clickable anyway.

NetSetMan Support · 2016-05-20 15:45

We've just completed a big update for high-DPI support. All issues should now be resolved. We're now scaling the icons as well (for 175%+ DPI settings). Would you like to try a private Beta release with the high-DPI updates? We'd like to hear your opinion. That way, if you notice some detail that slipped through our hands we'd have the chance to fix it before the final release.

torerikk · 2016-05-20 23:24

Yes, I would very much like to try the Beta.

torerikk · 2016-07-07 20:18

The latest update (version 4.2.0) fixes all the issues I had on Windows 10 running at 200% scaling.

Thanks smile

NetSetMan Support · 2016-07-07 22:45

Thanks for the feedback! We're glad to hear that.

NetSetMan Support

#1 2016-04-20 23:37

UI issues on high dpi screens

#2 2016-04-21 00:17

Re: UI issues on high dpi screens

#3 2016-05-20 15:45

Re: UI issues on high dpi screens

#4 2016-05-20 23:24

Re: UI issues on high dpi screens

#5 2016-07-07 20:18

Re: UI issues on high dpi screens

#6 2016-07-07 22:45

Re: UI issues on high dpi screens