From c91858d04d88d94af9795f613c6f8829f2d917b5 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Will McGugan Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2023 11:06:58 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] Update why-looks-bad-on-macos.question.md (#2800) --- questions/why-looks-bad-on-macos.question.md | 33 ++++++++++++++++---- 1 file changed, 27 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-) diff --git a/questions/why-looks-bad-on-macos.question.md b/questions/why-looks-bad-on-macos.question.md index 9808a3c0ee..ed6f63261f 100644 --- a/questions/why-looks-bad-on-macos.question.md +++ b/questions/why-looks-bad-on-macos.question.md @@ -10,9 +10,30 @@ alt_titles: - "macOS terminal" --- -The default macOS `Terminal.app` is getting rather old now; it has problems -such as being limited to just 256 colors, being slow to draw and not all -box-drawing characters are fully-supported. We recommend installing a newer -terminal such as [iTerm2](https://iterm2.com/), -[Kitty](https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/) or -[WezTerm](https://wezfurlong.org/wezterm/). +You may find that the default macOS Terminal.app doesn't render Textual apps (and likely other TUIs) very well, particuarily when it comes to box characters. +For instance, you may find it displays misaligned blocks and lines like this: + +Screenshot 2023-06-19 at 10 43 02 + +You can (mostly) fix this by opening settings -> profiles > Text tab, and changing the font settings. +We have found that Menlo Regular font, with a character spacing of 1 and line spacing of 0.805 produces reasonable results. +If you want to use another font, you may have to tweak the line spacing until you get good results. + +Screenshot 2023-06-19 at 10 44 00 + +With these changes, Textual apps render more as intended: + +Screenshot 2023-06-19 at 10 43 23 + +Even with this *fix*, Terminal.app has a few limitations. +It is limited to 256 colors, and can be a little slow compared to more modern alternatives. +Fortunately there are a number of free terminal emulators for macOS which produces high quality results. +We recommend installing a newer terminal such as [iTerm2](https://iterm2.com/), [Kitty](https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/) or [WezTerm](https://wezfurlong.org/wezterm/). + +*Terminal.app colors* + +Screenshot 2023-06-19 at 11 00 12 + +*iTerm2 colors* + +Screenshot 2023-06-19 at 11 00 25