How to choose letterbox or zoomEven for a business app?

Solar2D General Questions/Discussion
#1

I am building a business app similar to an RSS reader which has a lot of texts and some thumbnail images.

Should I choose letterbox or zoomEven? Do they make obvious difference? (from end-user’s view, not implementation)

I am currently using zoomEven with height/width = 320/480. Now I am thinking this setting is not good enough for this case. For example, some devices show some extra texts that are not supposed to be shown (not in Simulator) and with 320/480, it’s too narrow for me to fully utilize the big screen of iPad Retina.

Any suggestion on “letterbox or zoomEven” & the height/width for a business app?

#2

Hi Joe,

For the app you describe, I would opt for letterbox. This is because, if you’re displaying text and potentially rows in an RSS reader, “zoomEven” may push content (and some text) off the edges of the screen so that the rest of the content fills the remaining space. Personally, I find it easier to deal with letterbox and “fill the empty space” versus trying to compact things to fit that may have been forced off the edges. But that’s perhaps just my biased preference. :slight_smile:

Please read this recent tutorial about content area, it may help you decide:

http://www.coronalabs.com/blog/2013/09/10/modernizing-the-config-lua/

Best regards,

Brent

#3

Thanks for the suggestion.

I have read the tutorial, but I have a question… with this dynamic height/width:

width = aspectRatio \> 1.5 and 800 or math.ceil( 1200 / aspectRatio ), height = aspectRatio \< 1.5 and 1200 or math.ceil( 800 \* aspectRatio ),

When my screen resolution is fixed, I can use fixed sizes. For example, when I put a button, the size is fixed such as 32x32. But if I use the dynamic height/width, does it mean I have to dynamically calculate the button size?

Or I still should use fixed sizes for most places and let a few spaces in dynamic sizes?

#4

and make sure to follow the link to that post’s predecessor “The Ultimate config.lua” post…

#5

If your graphic looks good on an 800x1200 background then Corona will handle the rest of the scaling.

#6

Yes, I can understand Corona will take care of the scaling.

What I am trying to ask is about when I program the screen layout, I used to have fixed height/width in config.lua, so for example, I can use a font with a fixed size, such as 24 and I know exactly how much space it’s going to occupy.

Now if I use dynamic height/width in config.lua, and in some case the device has a larger screen now, so I should use the font size as 26 instead?

Maybe my concept is not right and I have not used dynamic widht/height before, so I am seeking some advise to lead me to a better direction before I start to try it out. Thanks for any suggestions.

#7

Hi Joe,

With dynamic scaling, everything is scaled in proportion… you don’t need to “conditionally set” the font size for different devices, unless you want the text size to be un-proportionally increased in size on smaller devices… for example, if you have some tiny text that’s simply too hard to read on a phone, then you’ll need to manage that upscale in your code.

Best regards,

Brent

#8

Hi Joe,

For the app you describe, I would opt for letterbox. This is because, if you’re displaying text and potentially rows in an RSS reader, “zoomEven” may push content (and some text) off the edges of the screen so that the rest of the content fills the remaining space. Personally, I find it easier to deal with letterbox and “fill the empty space” versus trying to compact things to fit that may have been forced off the edges. But that’s perhaps just my biased preference. :slight_smile:

Please read this recent tutorial about content area, it may help you decide:

http://www.coronalabs.com/blog/2013/09/10/modernizing-the-config-lua/

Best regards,

Brent

#9

Thanks for the suggestion.

I have read the tutorial, but I have a question… with this dynamic height/width:

width = aspectRatio \> 1.5 and 800 or math.ceil( 1200 / aspectRatio ), height = aspectRatio \< 1.5 and 1200 or math.ceil( 800 \* aspectRatio ),

When my screen resolution is fixed, I can use fixed sizes. For example, when I put a button, the size is fixed such as 32x32. But if I use the dynamic height/width, does it mean I have to dynamically calculate the button size?

Or I still should use fixed sizes for most places and let a few spaces in dynamic sizes?

#10

and make sure to follow the link to that post’s predecessor “The Ultimate config.lua” post…

#11

If your graphic looks good on an 800x1200 background then Corona will handle the rest of the scaling.

#12

Yes, I can understand Corona will take care of the scaling.

What I am trying to ask is about when I program the screen layout, I used to have fixed height/width in config.lua, so for example, I can use a font with a fixed size, such as 24 and I know exactly how much space it’s going to occupy.

Now if I use dynamic height/width in config.lua, and in some case the device has a larger screen now, so I should use the font size as 26 instead?

Maybe my concept is not right and I have not used dynamic widht/height before, so I am seeking some advise to lead me to a better direction before I start to try it out. Thanks for any suggestions.

#13

Hi Joe,

With dynamic scaling, everything is scaled in proportion… you don’t need to “conditionally set” the font size for different devices, unless you want the text size to be un-proportionally increased in size on smaller devices… for example, if you have some tiny text that’s simply too hard to read on a phone, then you’ll need to manage that upscale in your code.

Best regards,

Brent