Font resetting no longer works in 0.85

[aaronjacobs]

Whenever I type Chinese in Adium (and other programs) and then switch back to English input, my text is still in a Chinese font, which looks odd. Version 0.82 of Adium added the feature where I could press enter without typing anything to send a 'blank' IM and switch back to the default Helvetica font. This was a godsend.

However, this no longer works in 0.85. The version history says 'Fixed resetting of the font when sending a blank IM' -- is that to say that it was 'fixed' by removing it? I would really like to have this feature back.

[Catfish_Man]

Unfortunately this is one of those features that 95% of people hated (and were confused by), and 5% loved. It was removed by popular request in 0.85.

[aaronjacobs]

I guess the people who hated it were the ones that love to use obnoxious fonts and colors in their IMs. I, on the other hand, need it for a legitimate purpose - communicating in another language.

Anyway, could we please get a way to turn it on using a hidden (or not hidden) option?

[evands]

Query: In iChat, how is this handled? Apple is usually quite smart about localization issues.

[aaronjacobs]

I don't use iChat anymore, but if I remember correctly it had the same issue. When you switch back to English input, you are left in the default Chinese font.

[evands]

So it seems like this is an Apple bug -- the double-enter thing was a workaround which unfortunately caused great confusion for a majority of users.

Please file an Adium trac ticket with your issue and notes related to it... but please also file a bug report with Apple at bugreporter.apple.com. Filing it related to iChat but mentioning the problem exists in other applications such as Adium would probably be the best way not to get it ignored.

[Arenzera]

Couldn't a preference be made available which allows the user to specify Adium's behaviour?

Kiel :-)

[aaronjacobs]

So I just tried iChat, and it seems to no longer have this problem. Perhaps it was fixed in a version since I stopped using it. Should I still file a trac ticket?

Here's how to reproduce it so that you can see what I am talking about:

1. Open the International pane in System Preferences.
2. In the Languages list and drag Simplified Chinese to be second, below English. You can hover over the Asian language names to see which is which.
3. Go into the Input Menu tab and enable Simplified Chinese. Disable all of the input methods but ITABC.
4. Reboot to make sure that the computer correctly sets up your international font preferences.
5. Open Adium, and open a chat window with a contact. Send a message to confirm that you are using the default font (Lucida Grande 12pt, I believe).
6. Click the language input menu in the menu bar (probably an American flag) and turn on ITABC input.
7. Type 'wo' in the message window without the quotes, then press the space bar. When the character selection window comes up, select the first by hitting enter. Press enter to send the message.
8. Use the input menu in the menu bar to set the input mode back to U.S.
9. Close the chat window (this is important). Open another chat window with the same person.
10. Type a message and note that it is in the Chinese font.
11. Press enter with a blank message and note that it doesn't reset your font.

I don't really know what the root cause of this, and to be honest it sounds like it might be the expected behavior. I would be happy if we could just get a preference to turn on the 'press enter to reset font' behavior.

[evands]

So I just tried iChat, and it seems to no longer have this problem. Perhaps it was fixed in a version since I stopped using it. Should I still file a trac ticket?

Here's how to reproduce it so that you can see what I am talking about:

1. Open the International pane in System Preferences.
2. In the Languages list and drag Simplified Chinese to be second, below English. You can hover over the Asian language names to see which is which.
3. Go into the Input Menu tab and enable Simplified Chinese. Disable all of the input methods but ITABC.
4. Reboot to make sure that the computer correctly sets up your international font preferences.
5. Open Adium, and open a chat window with a contact. Send a message to confirm that you are using the default font (Lucida Grande 12pt, I believe).
6. Click the language input menu in the menu bar (probably an American flag) and turn on ITABC input.
7. Type 'wo' in the message window without the quotes, then press the space bar. When the character selection window comes up, select the first by hitting enter. Press enter to send the message.
8. Use the input menu in the menu bar to set the input mode back to U.S.
9. Close the chat window (this is important). Open another chat window with the same person.
10. Type a message and note that it is in the Chinese font.
11. Press enter with a blank message and note that it doesn't reset your font.

Please file a ticket with your nice detailed steps to reproduce

I don't really know what the root cause of this, and to be honest it sounds like it might be the expected behavior. I would be happy if we could just get a preference to turn on the 'press enter to reset font' behavior.

And I'd be much happier, given that the reason you want the behavior is to work around a bug, to fix the bug rather than introduce a preference to make it manageable.

[aaronjacobs]

Alright, here's the ticket:

http://trac.adiumx.com/ticket/1970

Thanks for your help.