Zooming in list view shouldn't affect text columns

[memeplex]

~:: uname -a
Linux carlos 4.14.52-1-MANJARO #1 SMP PREEMPT Tue Jun 26 15:24:31 UTC 2018 x86_64 GNU/Linux

~:: cinnamon --version
Cinnamon 3.8.6

~:: nemo --version
nemo 3.8.3

~:: lspci | grep VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)

~:: pacman -Qs xf86-video-intel
local/xf86-video-intel 1:2.99.917+829+gd7dfab62-1 (xorg-drivers)
    X.org Intel i810/i830/i915/945G/G965+ video drivers

In list mode incrementing the zoom level makes the icons larger, as expected, but also the text in the other columns (size, type, date, etc). This is not subtle at all, the text is quickly enlarged to a bizarrely big size. At the third zoom level text in the right pane is already way bigger that text in left pane (I mean the main one, with the overall tree view).

[Deduction42]

Nemo 3.8.3
Cinnamon 3.8.6
Linux Mint 19 Cinnamon Edition

I can confirm this is happening. Oddly enough, the text size doesn't change when zoom levels are changed in icon view or compact view. List view should exhibit the same behaviour (where the text size is set by the fonts category under system settings and does not change with zoom). This issue is somewhat frustrating.

[Deduction42]

I did some more investigation on this, and it appears this is a conscious design decision and not a bug. I had an older version of linux mint sitting around (17 Cinnamon Edition) and the zooming in list view worked the same way. It zoomed both text and icons at the same time. I now recall that being stuck with small icons or huge text in list view was one of the things that put me off in linux mint.

This behaviour makes it hard to manage LaTeX projects which have lots of files of different types having similar names. I like having medium size icons to quickly determine file type, with smaller text to easily see the entire file name, and some vertical space between file names so that I can quickly isolate files and not see them mashed together. Nautilus' list view does this by default (its zoom also only affects icons) but it is currently not possible in Nemo's list view to look like this (but oddly enough I can set up compact view like this which is what I use now).

It if were possible to zoom only icons (with text size being set by the global text settings) it would be easy to customize list view in a manner that is sleek modern and comfortable. At the moment though, list view is either ugly (very small grainy icons) or unwieldy (text that's way too big). Other file managers (nautilus and dolphin) allow me to do this, but I'm surprised that nemo, which is otherwise highly configurable, does not.

[Deduction42]

This is actually a very old issue. There has been some complaints about this since 2012 (#139). Someone though the icons in list view were too big (they resembled the icons in Nautilus) and couldn't shrink the icons without shrinking the text. Instead of decoupling the scaling between icons and text, the icons were simply made smaller from the get-go (#389). I actually liked the way things looked before the patch. At any rate, if icons could be scaled independent of text (or simply the text size not change with zoom) all these issues could be solved.

I think this should be re-labelled as a feature request. I'm aware that some people like the zoom to affect text scaling in list view and that conscious effort was made to achieve this behavior (other notable file systems like Nautilus, and Dolphin don't scale text in list view). I think the cleanest solution would simply be to add a list view option under "preferences" to set the icon size relative to text, (so that a users can perform their own version of #389) and have the zoom slider/option scale both text and icons.

[Deduction42]

Is there any plan to make the text size in list view be determined by the overall text settings and not the zoom? I find it very annoying that the text gets bigger if I need bigger icons.

[xlucn]

I second the request to keep the size of text in list view. It's just too inconsistent with the whole application.

[marksolaris]

I use this to enforce font size. You can choose a smaller size, but this is how it's done.
#2250

[SebiTimeWaster]

i have to disagree on this one, the list view is not meant to show image previews, it is a list of files that should be consitently sized vertically to ensure that the most amount of items fit the screen, so increasing the zoom should consistently zoom text and icons at the same time (to adapt to high dpi screens for instance, and yes, i know mint has a zoom setting in the screen settings, but not every application consistently supports that setting so i cant use it yet).

what would be ok though is if icons and text can be zoomed independently, though it is more work for the programmers.

[marksolaris]

"so increasing the zoom should consistently zoom text and icons at the same time"

In the original bug report, and noticed by everyone, it says "the text is quickly enlarged to a bizarrely big size".

When you do the thing and use the scroll wheel to zoom into the pictures (in any view) you want the very readable text to stay very readable. It's not at all viable for the filename text next to each icon to be 700pt, or shrink to 1pt.

Our ways of working in Icon, List and Compact views have many repeating use cases where zooming with the mouse wheel is required to take a better look at the image icon. What's illogical is shrinking or zooming the text so it's unreadable. That lack of readability serves no useful purpose in subsequent file management.

Anyway I coded myself the fix per #2250 and use it every day.