kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 5/1/2014 4:54 PM, Lorenzo Marcantonio wrote:
> On Thu, May 01, 2014 at 04:05:09PM -0400, Wayne Stambaugh wrote:
>> My preference is 50mils but no matter what field text size you choose,
>> please revise all of the existing symbols accordingly.  As of right now,
>> symbol field text sizes are all over the map which makes for some ugly
>> looking schematics.
> 
> For reference, I use 60mils for designator and name, 30mils for the
> package and 50mils for pin and labels. Probably 50mils for everything
> would be OK, except for packages which now have really long names...
> 
> Of course there is an ISO standard for lettering, too... given the ISO
> font (a little more compressed than the kicad one), standard text
> heights are 1.8, 2.5, 3.5, 5, 7, 10, 14 and 20mm. For paper sizes A1-A3
> the recommended sizes are 2.5/3.5mm (text and titles) A0 and A4 use
> respectively 3.5/5 and 1.8/2.5mm.
> 
> So according to ISO, the most common text size would be 100mils (from
> this the rule for 200mils between labeled lines, to avoid confusion).
> 
> IMHO this could be too big for current usage, unless you use large
> format printers. I sometime handled *junction sheets* in A0 size, only
> containing the index and intrasheet connections (something like a root
> sheet in hierarchical design). A termocouple conditioner was something
> like an A2 sheet... they where hand-drafted in the '80, however:P
> 
> There is a trick however: since everything is designed to be up and down
> scaled across the A-series sizes, you can set paper to A3 and print to
> A4. Or A2 and print to A3. It's a miracle how it still stays legible...
> 

My primary concern is consistency.  I am less concerned about the actual
text size.  As of right now, there is no consistency that I can see in
the symbol libraries.