How can I make the editor font bolder?

kartoo · 2020-01-07T02:53:07.205Z

Hi

Is it possible to make the font a bit bolder? I use the dark theme and the characters are so tint they look very faint on my screen. I am wondering if I can make them look abit contrasty, I might be even ok with disabling antialiasing in Joplin (but not system wide).

thanks

dpoulton · 2020-01-07T16:49:10.575Z

@kartoo

I was thinking that as a “quick fix” you could possibly search for a heavier/bolder monospace font, install it and specify that under Editor font family in the Appearance settings?

2020-01-07 16_42_15729×285 14.6 KB

CalebJohn · 2020-01-07T17:34:07.142Z

The easiest method is probably to increase font size, or as @dpoulton suggested you can change the font.

The more complete answer is that Joplin supports a userchrome.css thanks to the recent work of @devenzuegel . I think this can be used to make the editor text bold, but unfortunately I haven’t dug into it yet and don’t know exactly how that could be done.

kartoo · 2020-01-07T18:28:41.289Z

Thanks, I now enbaled Bitstream Vera Sans but I feel like the editor scroll speed got a hit with the new font. Would such a hit happen due to font change?

dpoulton · 2020-01-08T13:39:57.561Z

I am not a dev so I cannot say if there may be circumstances where specifying a font may cause Joplin to work any harder at anything. However I have tried this on my machine using Source Code Pro and not noticed any sluggish editor behaviour.

kartoo · 2020-01-08T17:20:09.824Z

Thanks I will try that one too.

dpoulton · 2020-01-08T20:42:37.261Z

Welcome, however Source Code Pro is not a bold font (but it seems that it may be an Adode font - are they any better?).

I do not use black / dark themes because I am old and prefer my notes / docs to look like ink on paper! Many things make me feel old but this need to have dark modes or themes has dated me the most, I just don't see the point !!

kartoo · 2020-01-09T18:31:21.027Z

Actually I found a bug with custom fonts and Vim mode.

I set the font to Bitstream Vera Sans and now the cursor stays far away from where it should be in Vim mode. See the image

When I edit, the cursor is still far away from the word ending but the new text is added to where it should be.

CalebJohn · 2020-01-09T18:47:27.660Z

In the options where you choose an editor font it there’s a warning that you must use a monospace font. It looks like you’re not using a monospace font.

Unfortunately this is a known bug with the Joplin editor that likely won’t be fixed anytime soon. I would suggest switching to a monospaced font. It looks like Bitstream Vera Sans also comes in a Mono variant so that should be your best bet.

kartoo · 2020-01-09T19:12:47.640Z

Thanks, I will see whatelse is installed on my Linux system.

subie · 2020-02-07T04:29:43.030Z

Try using Consolas Font Size at 18

t0dd · 2020-02-07T06:38:11.282Z

I don't know what OS you have so, I am going to keep this generic.
Open a word processor, for example, I opened Libreoffice. Click on the fonts dropdown to see what your system has available. I looked for something mono, but bolder. For example:
Source Code Pro Medium
Source Code Pro Semibold
Source Code Pro Black (which is really really BOLD)

I like DejaVu Sans Mono and Overpass Mono as well.

If nothing on your system interests you, check out
https://www.fontsquirrel.com/ for more fonts. Look at the "Classifications" on the right and click on "Monospaced". Download and install a font that interests you. https://fonts.google.com is another good site. You will have to figure out how to install fonts on your system, but I (on linux) just download the zip file, move it to ~/.fonts/ Unzip it and then fc-cache -f -v to make the system aware of them. I am sure there is some more elegant want to manage fonts on a linux system, but ... that's what I know.

t0dd · 2020-02-07T07:06:40.570Z

Hey @CalebJohn That CSS is great in theory, but … does anyone know of a way to figure out what tags and properties are used behind the scenes to render the editor and menu items? Otherwise, I am just guessing.

CalebJohn · 2020-02-07T12:06:05.362Z

I'm not sure exactly (aside from looking at the source code) but @dpoulton had some instructions that I think are probably what you want.

Custom stylesheets Support

@DominicDesbiens You can also use Help > Toggle development tools from the Joplin menu and: Click on the element inspector - Marked (1) in the below picture (click to expand) Point it at the item of interest in the rendered note - (2) See its full element name in the pop-up - (3) Look at it in detail in the main tool window - (4) [2020-02-03 17_25_06-Window]