How do I zoom Launchy?

[hujhax]

I'm running Windows 8.1 on a late-2013 MacBook using Boot Camp.

Unfortunately, the combination of the 13" screen with the 2560x1600 resolution means that Launchy shows up tiny: http://campl.us/GRUPTCj1cKy

The text in that window is so small as to be almost illegible.

Is there any way to tell Launchy to display at a larger size? Is there any skin for Launchy that has large fonts built in?

[J. Ledvina]

If you open the installation folder of Launchy ("C:/Program Files (x86)/Launchy", there's a skins folder. Within the folder for each skin is a .qss file that tells the skin how to display fonts, among other things. I'd recommend using the "Black Glass" skin (because it's already got a decent amount of space to enlarge the fonts). You can

With UAC enabled, you won't be able to edit and then save any of those files in place (the "C:/Program Files (x86)" directory is protected). After opening the .qss file to edit and changing the fonts from 12px to something larger, you'll have to use "save as" to store the .qss file in another location, then cut or copy and paste it back to the appropriate folder (you'll get a UAC prompt when you paste it).

I didn't know this was possible until I poked around, but I just tested it (changed the "Black Glass" fonts from 12px to 16px), and it works!

If the frame isn't big enough, you can also change that pretty easily. If you right-click on frame.png and choose "Edit", it will open in Paint. You can then choose "Resize" and make it 200% of its current size (or whatever you choose). As with the .qss file, you'll have to "Save as" and save it somewhere else, then move it into the skin's folder to replace the original.

On the other hand, I would imagine this isn't the only annoyance you'll get from running Windows with that pixel density, since it's not designed to support retina displays. I'd just reduce the screen resolution to 1920 x 1200.

Cheers,

Joe

[hujhax]

Thanks Joe! That worked great. I've made an enlarged version of DarkSteel for my MacBook: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5366609/DarkSteel%20%28extra%20large%29.zip

The only "bug" I've got left is that I can't figure out how to increase the height of the items in the suggested-alternatives listbox. But in any case, it's now usable on the Mac, so again, thanks!

Honestly, Launchy has been my only big hassle with the Retina display so far (apart from the install interface). I know people were complaining about it a lot in 7 and 8 -- maybe they worked out some of the kinks with 8.1?

[hujhax]

Huh. It looks like most applications will *automatically* scale up for high DPI settings. It's controlled by a setting on the "Compatibility" tab of the application's properties: http://screencast.com/t/wvqK7oJHF. I've noticed that "Disable display scaling on high DPI settings" has no effect on Launchy, whereas (on my MacBook), it makes almost all other applications change size. Could this be a bug in Launchy?

[Anonymous]

Hi there,
step 1: chose black glass skin
step 2: open images, double the pixels (scale = 200%) and save
step 3: open your style.qss with a notepad and overwrite it with what follows (~~~ marks excluded):

#launchy {
}
#workingAnimation {
    qproperty-geometry: rect(804 50 32 32);
}
#input {
    font: 32px Sans Verdana;
    border-width: 0px;
    background-color: rgba(0,244,120,0%);
    border-style: solid;
    color: white;
    qproperty-alignment: AlignLeft;
    qproperty-geometry: rect(80 44 320 48);
}
#output {
    font: 24px Sans Verdana;
    border-width: 0px;
    background-color: rgba(0,244,120,0%);
    border-style: solid;
    color: white;
    qproperty-alignment: AlignCenter;
    qproperty-geometry: rect(500 48 320 48);
}

#outputIcon {
    qproperty-geometry: rect(408 36 64 64);
}

#alternatives {
    font: 24px Sans Verdana;
    background-color: black;
    alternate-background-color: black;
    color: white;
    border-style: solid;
    border-width: 0px;
    qproperty-geometry: rect(26 108 832 200);
}

#alternativesPath {
    font: 24px Sans Verdana;
    color: rgb(221,221,221);
}

QScrollBar::handle:vertical {
    width: 6px;
    height: 6px;
    background: pink;
    image: url(down_arrow.png);
}

QScrollBar#altScroll:vertical {
    image: url(scrollBack.png);
    width: 32px; 
    margin: 32px 0px 32px 0px;
}

QScrollBar#altScroll::handle:vertical {
    background: qlineargradient(x1:0, y1:0.5, x2:1, y2:0.5, stop:0 black, stop:0.1 rgb(85,85,85), stop:0.7 rgb(40,40,40), stop:0.9 rgb(60,60,60), stop:1 white);
}

QScrollBar#altScroll::sub-line:vertical {
    width: 32px;
    height: 32px;
    subcontrol-position: top;
    subcontrol-origin: margin;
    image: url(scrollUp.png);
}

QScrollBar#altScroll::add-page:vertical {
    background: url(scrollBack.png);
}

QScrollBar#altScroll::sub-page:vertical {
    background: url(scrollBack.png);
}

QScrollBar#altScroll::add-line:vertical {
    width: 32px;
    height: 32px; 
    subcontrol-position: bottom;
    subcontrol-origin: margin;
    image: url(scrollDown.png);
}

This should pretty much double the size of your black glass theme :)

[Anonymous]

or unpack this attachment in the skins folder :)

[John Doe]

Thanks for sharing the skin pack. Great work! Works flawlessy on my Yoga 2 high resolution laptop. Cheers!

[Artem Russakovskii]

Not having Launchy work right on a HiDPI display has been a long-time concern, but I just tried it one more time after the Windows 10 Creators Update, and it looks like there's a perfect solution that makes Launchy scale correctly 100% of the time.

My setup involves a 4K laptop display @ 200% scaling and an external 1080p @ 100% scaling.

Here's what works and makes Launchy look perfectly crisp and correcty sizes no matter which monitor I'm on, even without logging out of Windows and back in.

Go to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Launchy (the location where the Launchy shortcut that autostarts with Windows lives), right click, go to Properties -> Compatibility -> Override high DPI scaling behavior. Scaling performed by:, and set it to System.

Application or System (Enhanced) don't work right, but System works flawlessly for me.

No need for custom skins or other tricks.

Give it a go, folks.

[Jason Coates]

Artem you are a Superstar - in searching for where this DPI setting to resolve this exact same legacy issue with Launchy, I happened across this post. Perfectly solved the problem!

Well done!!

[Artem Russakovskii]

Glad it worked for you too.

[Andrew Platt]

Thank you, messing with the style sheet was giving me trouble. Wish I could move your solution to the top of the thread!

[Lotus9999]

Hi Artem, you are brilliant!

Only thing to add is on my current system, which Is running on Windows 10 Pro, the path for the application was not what you had indicated, but rather this one:

C:\Users\XXX\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Launchy

[Stuart Forrest]

The DPI scaling thing set to system worked for me too. wish I had read down the post that far start with.

[Jeffrey Lacouture]

I created a whole new skin using the default skin as the basis. Here's what I did:

• Modified all icons to scale 200%
• Changed all fonts to scale 200%
• Moved all text over to fit in the new template

I call it Scaled Default. It is attached.

[Kurt001]

I created a Mercury theme for my Yoga 9.

Can anyone tell me how to set the sizes of the alternatives?
I would like to scale those too.

[Kurt001]

I just came accross the latest version of launchy
https://sourceforge.net/projects/launchyqt/

Just downloaded it and pasted it into the original folder (after doing a backup)

[Fabrice]

Attached the Spotlight Wide scaled by a factor of 2.