[4.0.29.17][Win+standalone]Arbitrary width/height limit very frustrating for high PPI screen users

261303ek

I'm using a Surface Pro 4, which has a very high screen resolution, but a relatively small screen. While Zotero does display nicely, Zotero appears to have a built-in 931pixel width limit, which is very frustrating to users, such as me, with very high PPI screens, since we have to use the native screen scaling in Windows 10 in order to make text legible. This results in Zotero hogging around 75% of the screen width, at its smallest.

I have explored the settings, and have not been able to find a remedy to this problem, beyond changing the native app scaling of Windows, which unfortunately can't be done on a per-app basis, and also has the ugly side effect of making everything very small.

It would be nice if Zotero could be set do any width/height.

dstillman

There shouldn't be any limit. On a 30" monitor I can extend it >2000 pixels wide.

You can try moving localstore.rdf within the Zotero profile directory out of the way, which will clear window settings. (Keep a copy in case that helps.)

261303ek

Thanks for the quick reply, I'm afraid I was not clear. The problem is that I cannot make the window smaller than 931pixels, which is very frustrating on my high PPI screen, since it results in me being unable to do split screen work.

dstillman

Ah, OK. In Zotero 5.0 there's a new stacked view for narrow screens, and I believe we decreased the min-width accordingly (though if not we can). You can try the 5.0 Beta now if you want. It'll be out as Final soon.

261303ek

Thanks a lot, I'll give it a shot :)

261303ek

I just installed the 5.0 beta, and it appears mostly the same visually. The 931px limit is still in effect though.

I figured I'd explain more indepth what exactly seems to be going on.

My screen has a native resolution of 2734x1824pixels, with a physical diameter of 12.3 inches. In order to compensate, Windows 10 scales all apps by 200%. The result is that while Zotero thinks it's 931pixels wide, it's 'physically' taking up 1862pixels of the screen.

Here's a couple screenshots that illustrate the problem!

Native resolution with no scaling
https://puu.sh/uhGUy/7ff9d24254.png
and with scaling (200%)
https://puu.sh/uhGP0/903a9f091d.png

dstillman

You have to enable the stacked view in the General pane of the preferences.

261303ek

I just did that, and I still cannot make the window any smaller. I'm a bit of a newbie and not entirely sure what the stacked view does, beyond removing one of the sections in the main window?

Stacked view off:
https://puu.sh/ui42p/a8b99e8fbd.png
Stacked view on:
https://puu.sh/ui3Zw/d632c5ed4c.png

edit: I see what the stacked view does now. Still a problem for my resolution though.

dstillman

It doesn't remove one of the sections — it stacks the middle and right-hand sections on top of one another. (You can see this more easily if you create an item.)

It does seem like there's still a minimum width, though. We'll look into adjusting that, at least for stacked mode, which has a bit of room to spare. (If you actually populate your library, I think you'll find that going below the current limit in non-stacked mode makes the interface pretty unusable, unless you also collapse the left or right pane.)

261303ek

I will certainly admit that I have not actually used Zotero yet, but I know from experience that even with apps that are mostly unusable at 50% width, there are still many moments where a quick side-by-side view can be extremely useful, which Windows 8 introduced some very nice functionality for, which has also carried over into Windows 10, and on top of this, it is a great feature for touch enabled screens, such as the Microsoft Surface. It enables a quite different workflow.

I'd love to see the limit either removed or reduced. It seems kind of pointless to have it in the first place anyhow?

dstillman

A side-by-side view isn't particularly useful if you can't view any data. (And you can of course still position it side-by-side, with readable data where you need it, even with a larger minimum width.)

Note that the issue isn't just the limit on the window, but the individual min-widths on the panes. The min-widths prevent you from putting the panes into useless states where, due to padding and icons and labels, you literally can't view the text, and they provide breakpoints for collapsing the panes. The window min-width is a function of those min-widths (because otherwise shrinking the window starts cutting off toolbar icons and the like). As I say, I think we can go smaller, particularly considering stacked view or collapsed panes, but I don't see value in the software allowing you to shrink it beyond where you can even view text.

261303ek

I'm no developer and you are probably right. As you put yourself, with stacked view, we could go a bit smaller, which could be useful.

If I may, could you simply not put the entirety of the app's contents inside a scrollable frame, in case the main window is shrunk beyond the min-width of what the sub-elements permit? Much like the behaviour of an internet browser.

Obviously Surface users are kind of edge cases, since there aren't many of us, but I make it a point to use software that meshes nicely with touch, since it enables a great workflow. My place of education has instructed us to use Zotero, so I figured I'd add my 2 cents :)

Have a nice friday

dstillman

could you simply not put the entirety of the app's contents inside a scrollable frame

No, that works for a content area, which is the case in a web browser. It's not something you do for the user interface elements itself.

(There's been a little talk and experimentation before of allowing horizontal scrolling of just the middle pane, which is closer to a content area. (File managers, for example, usually allow that. On the other hand, mail programs generally don't — they, like Zotero, just offer column pickers.) I don't love the idea, since I think horizontal scrolling is pretty awkward for most users, but it's not something I'd rule out.)

261303ek

Alternatively, and I'm not entirely educated on this matter, you could perhaps make the app scaling separate from the native Windows scaling?

261303ek

Hi, just figured I'd ask for an update on this.

As you can see from the screendump, there's a huge amount of wasted screen space. It'd be lovely if you would allow us to make the window smaller.

https://puu.sh/vD2Yl/6818772683.png

LiborA

Your situation is extremely rare. And I think, your idea was not agreed by developers.

adamsmith

Dan agrees above to lower the min width values

As I say, I think we can go smaller, particularly considering stacked view or collapsed panes

I think that's perfectly reasonable

dstillman

Ticket: https://github.com/zotero/zotero/issues/1183