skyjake @jk@skyjake.fi

Maybe now? 😅

It's a bit of a challenge to call FriBidi at the right time. I'll need to refactor the document layout somewhat so the text renderer has visibility to the full paragraph and can process it in one go. At the moment it's more of a line-based operation, which makes it more challenging to apply alignment (and justification).

Looks like FriBidi is doing its thing!

(i.e., applying the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm)

Still need to optimize the text handling a bit to avoid repeated processing of static strings, e.g., UI labels. Text selection is also a bit wonky over RTL runs...

HarfBuzz & FriBidi mean a big step forward in supporting complex scripts. The final big issue remaining is expanding the collection of available fonts.

After a while it became evident that trying to write my own text shaping engine would be a monumental project of its own. And since HarfBuzz already exists, quite a waste a time...

So I've gradually been integrating HarfBuzz into Lagrange's text renderer. There are still a few issues with the current set of fonts not containing all combining glyphs.

Next step: FriBidi for dealing with RTL scripts.

Fancy a custom #Lagrange UI theme? 😎

In v1.6, UI colors can be customized via a config file.

#Lagrange v1.5 is now available with several UI improvements.

https://gmi.skyjake.fi/gemlog/2021-05_lagrange-1.5.gmi
gemini://skyjake.fi/gemlog/2021-05_lagrange-1.5.gmi

- improved identity management
- multi-line text input
- query response length indicator
- animated sidebars and dialogs
- custom fallback font
- Gempub navigation

#Gemini

Having an absolutely wild Saturday evening investigating Unicode combining characters. Lagrange currently utterly fails to render these. A special layout algorithm that adapts to any number of combined extra glyphs is needed.

I haven't thrown in the towel yet, but falling back to using an existing library is always an option...

Working on improvements to the Lagrange text input widget. Word wrapping and multiple lines make a world of difference for writing a bit of text.

Ready for split views and Gempub? #Lagrange v1.4.0 is out:

https://gmi.skyjake.fi/gemlog/2021-05_lagrange-1.4.gmi
gemini://skyjake.fi/gemlog/2021-05_lagrange-1.4.gmi

The announcement post as a Gempub: gemini://skyjake.fi/media/lagrange_v1.4.gpub

#Gemini

I've updated the Gempub support in Lagrange's dev branch. The new split modes are also pretty handy here... @nytpu @oppen

As a stepping stone toward multiple windows, Lagrange v1.4 will have split-screen modes.

You essentially get two copies of the full UI side by side. Very useful for large displays, viewing something on the side, or just browsing two pages simultaneously.

This required substantial changes in the UI internals, but it'll make multiple windows a lot easier to do in the future.

#Gemini

Rendering Text (gemlog post)

https://gmi.skyjake.fi/gemlog/2021-04_rendering-text.gmi

Taking a closer look at exactly how I render text in Lagrange, from TrueType files to view buffering.

gemini://skyjake.fi/gemlog/2021-04_rendering-text.gmi

The Lagrange beta on TestFlight has been updated to v1.4, with a couple of useful new features: pinch-to-zoom and text selection.

Using long press for selection means that the page context menu needed a new location. I’ve moved it up into the URL bar, replacing the reload button.

First ten days of #Lagrange TestFlight

https://gmi.skyjake.fi/gemlog/2021-03_first-ten-days-of-lagrange-testflight.gmi (gemlog post)

Development has been pretty active but I'm still undecided about the phone UI. Writing a universal app remains a challenge. This has been a nice way to test 1.3 features for the desktop, though.

#Gemini

Trying out LibreTranslate in #Lagrange. It’s still a bit hit-and-miss, and I’m not sure how well the self-hosted instance will hold up, but it does work. Coming up in v1.3!

The first beta build of #Lagrange for iOS is now on TestFlight.

https://gmi.skyjake.fi/gemlog/2021-03_testflight.gmi

Join now and not only will you get a preview of v1.3, but you'll also get to enjoy a variety of exciting bugs. Will it crash and burn?

#Gemini

A little #Lagrange v1.3 preview.

I'm a big fan of icons in menus. It's so much faster to recognize items by the icon than to actually read the label text.

I added these for the mobile version but they are useful and nice on the desktop, too.

iOS port progressing... "Colorful Light" is a bit too much on a large monitor, but on a phone it seems quite delightful.

Having a great deal of fun porting Lagrange to iOS. 📲

SDL & custom UI makes this pretty painless, but of course there is no support for things like OS accessibility features or media playback.

Even without those this is already quite usable, especially on the iPad. Plenty of work left to refine the UI for a phone, though.

I expect most of this is directly applicable to Android as well, as long as I figure out how to compile all the dependencies.

#Gemini

Getting closer to a final design.

It's impossible to replicate native behavior exactly while working behind SDL APIs, but I'm pretty happy with how it's working now.

Still need to add a toggle in Preferences to disable the custom frame.