[Edu-sig] IDLE fonts

[michel paul]

I also show students how to change fonts and colors - and like you say, they
LOVE doing it.  But other than to tell them to be careful in changing syntax
coloring, as you don't want to lose useful distinctions of keywords and so
on, I don't really do anything special with it.  I'll be interested in your
follow up on this.  I thought your iChing unicode demo from awhile back was
amazing.

Now here's something weird I've noticed along the lines of changing fonts -
there's no way to do that using 2.5.2 in OSX?  I've been using 2.5.2 on both
my home computer (OSX) and my school-issued computer (Windows).  I just
happened to notice one day in OSX that I couldn't find any options or
preferences listed anywhere in the menus, and I was quite used to having
it.  I found that weird.  And just now I'm double-checking it, and, nope!
Nowhere.  Nada.

But here's a weird twist on that - I recently downloaded VPython for OSX.
They finally created an OSX installer, and I'm grateful.  I was having
trouble trying to get VPython going on my Mac using Fink.  For some reason I
just couldn't get it to happen.  So now, when I open VPython, the version of
Idle also says 2.5.2, but, just like you'd expect, there is an Options
section in the menu bar.  So, I change my font there, and then when I open
the standard Idle, yep, the font has changed accordingly!  Bizarre.

On Fri, Jul 11, 2008 at 4:59 PM, kirby urner <kirby.urner at gmail.com> wrote:

> When I first start a Python class, e.g. for Saturday Academy, we go to
> the configure IDLE screen.  I often do this while projecting, as I'm
> also blowing up the projected font to something more pedagogically
> large (suitable for reading from the back row).
>
> Understandably, once students see they're free to choose a different
> font, many of them do so.  I tend to make noises about how some are
> more readable than others, am definitely a proponent of fixed width,
> although I'm willing to bow to personal preferences.
>
> When I move around from one computer to another, helping students with
> bugs, I'm often confronted with an assortment of different typefaces.
>
> I'm thinking next time to go in the other direction and encourage
> experimenting with some truly different looking fonts -- but not so
> different that the code becomes unreadable (not ding bats).
>
> I think we're all somewhat attuned to the psychological attributes of
> different fonts, e.g. Comic Sans has a different "atmosphere" than New
> York Times or Courier New.
>
> Before I show off what I consider to be a fun and useful IDLE font,
> suitable for future classes, I'd like to poll other subscribers as to
> whether they do anything unusual in the fonts department, either for
> the benefit of new students, or for themselves.
>
> I'll follow up on Monday.
>
> Kirby
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