Text Compare Report - Please Consider

[Michael Bulgrien]

On the Text Compare Report dialog, please consider providing overrides for:

Font Size
Tab width

On screen, there is more real estate than on paper. On paper, wrapping lines is often too messy. When printing, a user might want to condense the report by decreasing the font size and giving tab characters a different width (i.e. 2 spaces) than when viewed on screen. I know I do.

[Michael Bulgrien]

Okay, I just found the "Body Font" setting. I still think that it would be nice to have a font-size override that keeps the same font and just temporarily overrides the size, but this is not really an issue with the "Body Font" configuration you've already got.

Tab width would still be a nice configuration to have, though.

[Michael Bulgrien]

Another thing to consider, please.

Scan the differences on each side of the compare. If, on one side, the difference sections are shorter than half the width of the report, shift the center difference column so that more of the different text on the other side is visible. See screencast: http://screencast.com/t/aBzU6WNcqH

[Aaron]

Hello,

For tab width, go to the Tools menu -> File Formats, edit your current format, and in the Misc tab you can change the Tab Stop size. How does that work for you?

[Aaron]

Hello Michael,

As presented, would you expect the center column to change from report to report on the same files at different points in time, as different changes were found between the two?

[Michael Bulgrien]

Hi Aaron,

Aaron, I don't want the tab widths to change in the edit/compare panes...just like I don't want to have to change my font and font size in the edit/compare panes in order to print smaller text on the difference report. Thankfully you don't make me do it for the body font. Please don't make me do it for tab width.

I like the default tab widths right where they are! The text edit/compare panes are interactive...you can use the slider bars and/or resize the application window to view more of the text compare. Reports not only do not have slider bars...they have extremely limited real estate. Therefore, as I thought I made clear above, I would like a tab width override just for printing difference reports. It should probably be on the same dialog as the "Body Font" setting.

Yes, I would expect the center column to auto adjust from report to report. if both sides of the report have change sections that extend beyond the middle of the report, then I would leave the center column in the center. But if one side has change sections that are short and the other side has change sections that are long, I would move the center column such that the entire "short" change section is visible, and the rest of the real-estate is freed up for the side with the longer change sections. For now I'm pretty happy with interlaced reports, but it would be nice to have more flexibility with the side-to-side reports as well. Thanks.

[Aaron]

Hello,

Thanks for the clarification about the tab control. You want to only alter it for the Report in the Page Setup dialog of the Print Preview (Report to Printer option). I'll make a Customer Wishlist note.

The only workaround for now is to change it per file format, and change the actual number of characters used to represent a tab.