Hello PLCnext Community,
I’m reaching out to share a significant issue I’ve encountered regarding the font compatibility between PLCnext Engineer and the WP 6070-WVPS touch panel. While developing HMI interfaces in PLCnext Engineer, where we have a selection of 35 fonts, it came to my attention that the firmware of the WP 6070-WVPS touch panel includes 75 fonts. Surprisingly, only 4 of these fonts match between the development environment and the touch panel firmware.
This discrepancy became particularly problematic when my design choice, Consolas for button texts, defaulted to Times New Roman on the WP 6070-WVPS. Not only does this affect the aesthetic and readability of the HMI design, but it also undermines the integrity of the design process. The explanation provided was a need to conserve space on the touch panel. However, considering the firmware file size is 1.3 GB and the relatively minor space occupied by font files, this reasoning seems somewhat incongruent.
Upon reviewing the available and installed fonts, the stark difference in font selections (35 in PLCnext Engineer vs. 75 on the touch panel, with only 4 overlaps) strikes me as a significant oversight. It suggests a lack of alignment in the toolchain that directly impacts us, the developers, by limiting our design choices and complicating the deployment process.
In my view, there should be a coherent strategy regarding font availability. The fonts offered within PLCnext Engineer for HMI design should, at a minimum, be standard on the touch panel firmware, especially for a device as capable as the WP 6070-WVPS. If space conservation is a priority, it would be more logical to limit the fonts on the firmware that aren’t available in the development environment rather than exclude those that are essential for design consistency.
This issue not only complicates the design process but also potentially affects the user experience of the final application. A straightforward solution like ensuring matching font sets between PLCnext Engineer and the touch panels would improve development efficiency and product coherence.
I urge the PLCnext team to consider this feedback. For more info see attached text file.fontsfonts.txt