View source for XBMC - bigger fonts

<pre>
I thought I would share this as it took me a while to try and figure out how to do it and thought others might appreciate it. I view my apple tv (2nd gen) on a composite tv (through a converter box) but with the confluence stock fonts they are all very small and almost unreadable especially the movie descriptions. So I figured out how to do a tweak that enlarges the text. 

What we are going to do it make a new font set that has a larger size than the default. You can switch to the new font in the appearance section of the XBMC settings, so if you don’t like it just switch back to default.

Before we start I want to make it clear that I am by no means a good programmer I just did a lot of googling and experimentation. Having said that I have done this simple tweak on several versions of xbmc and it always works for me. I have done it on both Eden and dharma. It does get lost when you update to a newer version of xbmc but it is a 5min job to reset it. If anyone can tell me a better way to do it that would be great.

I would exit out of XBMC. I don’t know if you need to but it makes sense to me not to mess with the settings whilst they are being used.

First you need to make a connection to the atv (I use WinSCP) and navigate to the Font.xml file and add some script into it. I find that file at /private/var/stash/Applications/XBMC.frappliance/XBMCData/XBMCHome/addons/skin.confluence/720p/font.xml. At this point I would make a safety copy of the file before you edit it. So copy it to the desktop unedited and edit the one on the ATV

At the end of the script insert the following lines just before the last line of the script (which should say </fonts>). 

############################################################

 <fontset id="Massive" idloc="31393" unicode="true"> 
    <!-- Normal Fonts -->
         <font>
            <name>font10</name>
            <filename>DejaVuSans.ttf</filename>
            <size>12</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>font12</name>
            <filename>DejaVuSans.ttf</filename>
            <size>23</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>font12caps</name>
            <filename>DefaultCaps.ttf</filename>
            <size>25</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>font13</name>
            <filename>DejaVuSans.ttf</filename>
            <size>25</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>font13caps</name>
            <filename>DefaultCaps.ttf</filename>
            <size>25</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>font16caps</name>
            <filename>DefaultCaps.ttf</filename>
            <size>25</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>font30</name>
            <filename>DejaVuSans.ttf</filename>
            <size>30</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>fontContextMenu</name>
            <filename>DejaVuSans.ttf</filename>
            <size>25</size>
        </font>


    <!-- Title Fonts -->
         <font>
            <name>font10_title</name>
            <filename>DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf</filename>
            <size>12</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>font12_title</name>
            <filename>DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf</filename>
            <size>16</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>font13_title</name>
            <filename>DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf</filename>
            <size>20</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>font24_title</name>
            <filename>DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf</filename>
            <size>24</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>font28_title</name>
            <filename>DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf</filename>
            <size>28</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>font30_title</name>
            <filename>DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf</filename>
            <size>30</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>font35_title</name>
            <filename>DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf</filename>
            <size>35</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>font50caps_title</name>
            <filename>DejaVuSans-Bold-Caps.ttf</filename>
            <size>43</size>
        </font>

         <font>
            <name>WeatherTemp</name>
            <filename>DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf</filename>
            <size>80</size>
        </font>
    </fontset>
	
############################################################

When you have inserted the new lines and saved the file. Go back into XBMC and go to system > settings > appearance > fonts and change the blank selection (I wanted it to be called MASSIVE font but the name doesn't show up and I didn't really mind it worked). This should then have made all your fonts nice and large. 

Hope this helps somebody not spend hours trying to figure it out themselves. 

===================== UPDATE FOR FRODO & GOTHAM =====================

Some of the coding is slightly different when you change from Eden v11 up to Frodo v12 & Gotham v13. So I thought I would update this post to reflect the changes as it has been quite popular.

First add the following block of code into "Font.xml" 
(ATV location /private/var/stash/Applications/XBMC.frappliance/XBMCData/XBMCHome/addons/skin.confluence/720p/Font.xml) 
(Win7 file location C:\Program Files (x86)\XBMC\addons\skin.confluence\720p\Font.xml)

############################################################

<fontset id="Massive" idloc="31393" unicode="true"> 
    <!-- Normal Fonts -->
         <font>
            <name>font10</name>
            <filename>Roboto-Regular.ttf</filename>
            <size>14</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>font12</name>
            <filename>Roboto-Regular.ttf</filename>
            <size>23</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>font13</name>
            <filename>Roboto-Regular.ttf</filename>
            <size>25</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>font14</name>
            <filename>Roboto-Regular.ttf</filename>
            <size>25</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>font16</name>
            <filename>Roboto-Regular.ttf</filename>
            <size>25</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>font30</name>
            <filename>Roboto-Regular.ttf</filename>
            <size>30</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>fontContextMenu</name>
            <filename>Roboto-Regular.ttf</filename>
            <size>25</size>
        </font>
    <!-- Title Fonts -->
         <font>
            <name>font10_title</name>
            <filename>Roboto-Bold.ttf</filename>
            <size>12</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>font12_title</name>
            <filename>Roboto-Bold.ttf</filename>
            <size>17</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>font13_title</name>
            <filename>Roboto-Bold.ttf</filename>
            <size>20</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>font24_title</name>
            <filename>Roboto-Bold.ttf</filename>
            <size>24</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>font28_title</name>
            <filename>Roboto-Bold.ttf</filename>
            <size>28</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>font30_title</name>
            <filename>Roboto-Bold.ttf</filename>
            <size>30</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>font35_title</name>
            <filename>Roboto-Bold.ttf</filename>
            <size>35</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>font45caps_title</name>
            <filename>Roboto-Bold.ttf</filename>
            <size>45</size>
        </font>

         <font>
            <name>font_MainMenu</name>
            <filename>Roboto-Bold.ttf</filename>
            <style>uppercase</style>
            <size>40</size>
        </font>
         <font>
            <name>WeatherTemp</name>
            <filename>Roboto-Bold.ttf</filename>
            <size>80</size>
        </font>
    </fontset>
	
############################################################

Add the Name of the font set into the Strings.po file (Thanks to dizygotheca for helping with this part)
(ATV file location /private/var/stash/Applications/XBMC.frappliance/XBMCData/XBMCHome/addons/skin.confluence/language/English/Strings.po)
(Win7 file location C:\Program Files (x86)\XBMC\language\English\strings.po)

############################################################

msgctxt "#31393"
msgid "Massive"
msgstr ""

############################################################

then select the "Massive" font from within XBMC (System > Settings > Appearance > Skin > Fonts) 

and all your text will Bigger!
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