Dynamic Text Adjustment in a User Interface Element

Abstract

This is directed to efficiently identifying alternative display attributes for displaying text in a display region when default display attributes are inadequate for displaying the text. Many electronic device user interfaces are designed based on text in a default language. When interfaces are translated for use in other languages, the translated interfaces can include words or phrases that are longer than the corresponding text in the initial language. To quickly find an adequate, alternate display attribute for the longer text (e.g., a new font size), the electronic device can calculate assumed reduced text box sizes for displaying the text should display attributes of the text be reduced. The electronic device can select an adequate reduced text box, and reduce the display attributes by an amount corresponding to the reduced text box.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for selecting a font size for text displayed in a display region, comprising:
 detecting a characteristic dimension of the display region;   defining a sequence of text regions of different sizes, each text region sized for displaying the text in a different number of lines in a default font size, each text region having a different characteristic dimension, wherein the characteristic dimension of a successor text region is reduced by a reduction amount from a characteristic dimension of a predecessor text region;   selecting a text region of the sequence of text regions with a largest ratio between the characteristic dimension of the display region and the characteristic dimension of the text region; and   displaying the text in the display region using a reduced font size corresponding to a ratio between the characteristic dimension of the selected text region and the characteristic dimension of the display region.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining that the characteristic dimension of the text region is smaller than the characteristic dimension of the display region; and   displaying the text in the display region using the default font size.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the reduction amount is equal to an operation applied to a default reduction amount for which the number of lines within the text region is a variable.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the operation further comprises:
 raising the default reduction amount to a power of the number of lines within the text region.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein:
 the default reduction amount comprises a fixed value.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein displaying further comprises:
 calculating a reduced font size value by reducing the default font size by the reduction amount of the selected text region; and   rounding down the calculated value to use as the reduced font size.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 applying a word wrap operation on the text having the reduced font size within the display region; and   verifying that the number of lines to which the text wraps corresponds to the number of lines of the selected text region.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 defining a maximum number of lines for displaying the text; and   defining the sequence of text regions to have no more text regions than the maximum number of lines.   
     
     
         9 . An electronic device for determining a display attribute for displaying text in a display region, comprising:
 one or more processors;   a display unit coupled to the one or more processors;   a memory coupled to the one or more processors having stored thereon instructions, comprising instructions that when executed, cause the one or more processors more processors to:
 receive text; 
 identify a display region having a characteristic dimension in which to display the text using default display attributes; 
 determine that the text does not fit within the identified display region using the default display attributes; 
 define an initial characteristic dimension, corresponding to a smallest region in which the text can fit in one line using the default display attributes; 
 calculate at least one subsequent characteristic dimension, each corresponding to a number of lines over which to wrap the text,
 wherein each subsequent characteristic dimension is reduced by a reduction amount from a characteristic dimension of a predecessor characteristic dimension, 
 
 identify the at least one subsequent characteristic dimension having a largest value for an attribute function applied to the at least one subsequent characteristic dimension; and 
 retrieve display attributes corresponding to the identified at least one subsequent characteristic dimension; and 
 display, using the retrieved display attributes, the text on the display unit in a location corresponding to the display region. 
   
     
     
         10 . The electronic device of  claim 9 , wherein the reduction amount comprises a ratio between the initial characteristic dimension and the subsequent characteristic dimension. 
     
     
         11 . The electronic device of  claim 9 , wherein the memory further comprises instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:
 apply a word wrap process to the text using the retrieved display attributes to display the text within the display region.   
     
     
         12 . A non-transitory program storage device for selecting a font size for text displayed in a display region, the program storage having instructions stored thereon, the instructions comprising instructions that when executed cause a data processing apparatus to:
 detect a characteristic dimension of the display region;   determine a characteristic dimension of an initial text region defining a minimum region required for displaying the text using a default font size;   define a plurality of adjusted text regions of different sizes, each adjusted text region comprising a characteristic dimension,
 wherein each adjusted text region configured for displaying the text in a different number of lines in the default font size, and 
 wherein each adjusted text region has a characteristic dimension that is reduced by a reduction amount corresponding to the number of lines within the adjusted text region; 
   identify, for each of the plurality of adjusted text regions, a ratio between the characteristic dimension of the display region and the characteristic dimension of the adjusted text region;   identify an adjusted text region of the plurality of adjusted text regions having the largest ratio between the characteristic dimension of the display region and the characteristic dimension of the adjusted text region; and   display the text in the display region using a reduced font size corresponding to the default font size reduced by the reduction amount of the identified adjusted text region.   
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory program storage device of  claim 12 , wherein the instructions further comprise instructions that when executed cause the data processing apparatus to:
 determine that the characteristic dimension of the initial text region is smaller than the characteristic dimension of the display region; and   display the text in the display region using the default font size.   
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory program storage device of  claim 12 , wherein the instructions further comprise instructions that when executed cause the data processing apparatus to:
 apply an operation to a default reduction amount for which the number of lines within the adjusted text region is a variable to calculate the reduction amount.   
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory program storage device of  claim 14 , wherein the instructions to cause the data processing apparatus to apply an operation to a default reduction amount comprise instructions that when executed cause the data processing apparatus to:
 raise the default reduction amount to a power of the number of lines within the adjusted text region.   
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory program storage device of  claim 14 , wherein:
 the default reduction amount comprises a fixed value.   
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory program storage device of  claim 12 , wherein the instructions that when executed cause the data processing apparatus to display the text comprise instructions then when executed cause the data processing apparatus to:
 calculate a reduced font size value by reducing the default font size by the reduction amount of the identified one of the adjusted text regions; and   round down the calculated value to use as the reduced font size.   
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory program storage device of  claim 12 , the instructions further comprising instructions that when executed cause the data processing apparatus to:
 apply a word wrap operation on the text having the reduced font size within the display region; and   verify that the number of lines to which the text wraps corresponds to the number of lines of the identified one of the adjusted text regions.   
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory program storage device of  claim 12 , the instructions further comprising instructions that when executed cause the data processing apparatus to:
 define a maximum number of lines for displaying the text; and   define no more adjusted text regions than the maximum number of lines.