dual datetime@rcalixte: Feature suggestion: Add font weight

[acaimingus]

I would like to suggest adding an font weight option to the desklet. I know this is already partially handled as mentioned by you, @rcalixte:

The only thing that's missing is font weight

This is handled by the input if the font supports it, e.g. Ubuntu Light or Ubuntu Thin. Some fonts don't respond by their
human-readable name for all variants which is a little frustrating but it wasn't something I thought merited too much
investment beyond the current implementation. (You can see what is supported by running fc-list. You'll see that many fonts are more limited than their display names might suggest.)

Originally posted by @rcalixte in #1282 (comment)

However I don't think this is a satisfactory solution and here are a few reasons for it:

• With the current way it is variable weight fonts (like SUSE, EB Garamond and many, many more) are not adjustable beyond their standard normal 400 weight, as these fonts usually don't even provide names for all the possible weights, reducing options
• The font-weight option works (as far as I'm aware) on all fonts (static or variable weight)
• Using font-weight enables in many cases more granular control over the font style, which makes the desklet even more customizable
• Font-weight can also be used in combination with a specified font, which means that it would only warrant further improvement.

Please let me know your thoughts on this.

[rcalixte]

• these fonts usually don't even provide names for all the possible weights, reducing options

Isn't this an upstream problem?

• Font-weight can also be used in combination with a specified font, which means that it would only warrant further improvement.

What do you mean here?

Please let me know your thoughts on this.

Initially very mixed. I'll take a deeper look later.

[acaimingus]

• these fonts usually don't even provide names for all the possible weights, reducing options

Isn't this an upstream problem?

Variable fonts have been designed to reduce disk usage and clutter by not having 30 different font files for 1 font. They are intended to be modified through font-weight and similar css-styles, so this is not really a problem, but intended behaviour.

• Font-weight can also be used in combination with a specified font, which means that it would only warrant further improvement.

What do you mean here?

This is a bit of a repeated point, my bad. Essentially what is meant with this is that font-weight maps static fonts to the font-weight range and picks the font with the value closest to the chosen weight.

[rcalixte]

I would like to suggest adding an font weight option to the desklet.

I tested it and it works fine. It's also implemented in a way that is maintainable. One note, when working with the translation files, you can use the cinnamon-spices-makepot script to update the template file and any existing translation files rather than doing it manually. Using Poedit for the translations also ensures auto-formatting remains intact.

[acaimingus]

I tested it and it works fine. It's also implemented in a way that is maintainable.

Great to hear!

One note, when working with the translation files, you can use the cinnamon-spices-makepot script to update the template file and any existing translation files rather than doing it manually. Using Poedit for the translations also ensures auto-formatting remains intact.

Ah, thank you for the tip, I'll do it that way in the future.