Why the beep? The specified setting for the option FontSize cannot be used.

Questions
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1

Hello,

Silly problem that I just can’t seem to fix.

Mathematica v10.0.1.0 running in MacOS 10.10 seems to have an option error. Just started about a week ago.

When opening any window, I get the message:

The specified setting for the option FontSize cannot be used.

I’ve tried to change Options, but nothing seems to fix the error.

Mathematic computes and displays fine. It simply beeps and sends messages all of the time…

Thanks for any help or advice

Mike

2

Hello Michael,
Are you using BaseStyle->Large or similar? i.e.,

Plot[Sin[x], {x, 0, 1}, PlotLabel -> "Test", BaseStyle -> Large]

I’ve been getting the same error in M10 (but not in M9), but then I switched to

Plot[Sin[x], {x, 0, 1}, PlotLabel -> "Test", 
 BaseStyle -> {FontSize -> 14}]

and I don’t get the error anymore.

WCC

3

Thanks WCC, but setting Style options in particular calls isn’t the issue. (But, yes, your second option specification works in M10 but not in M9)
My problem is that Mathematica seems to give the message “The specified setting for the option FontSize cannot be used.” all of the time. Switching windows, start-up, closing windows, etc. I must have some sort of corrupted options file, but I don’t know how to track it down and fix it.

Strange

4

Have you checked in the Option Inspector (under the Global scope) for the value entered in the FontSize option?

If so, perhaps you have a problem with a corruption of your default StyleSheet (though I am not sure how that would happen, since those style sheets are generally protected from being overwritten).

One thing to try is to reset all preferences to defaults under the File>Preferences… menu item.

Craig, have you reported the bug you found with BaseStyle → Large: it appears that it is associated with the PlotLabel.

5

Dear All,

Appreciate your advice.

Yes, I tried resetting FontSize, FontFamily, etc in Option Inspector, but alas this did not help.

I’ll investigate style sheets next…

Mike

6

If Mathematica had been fine and now has a strange behavior, I would suspect a damaged start-up file. These can be reset to default contents; see Wolfram Support Quick Answers: How do I fix common problems by resetting Mathematica 14.0 to its default configuration? .

If the cause is a corrupted style sheet, it might be easier to uninstall and re-install Mathematica than to try tracking down which line in which style in which stylesheet.

7

Bruce,

Clean start did the trick. All’s well!

Thanks very much

Mike

8

Thanks David,
I wanted to do a clear cache (shift-launch on Mac) before reporting the bug. I just did and the BaseStyle->Large and PlotLabel->“x” still throws an error. I am reporting that bug now.
Cheers, Craig

9

Greetings!

I use 10.0.2.0 and get the same error for the following code:

Plot[
 Evaluate[{P[\[Xi]]}],
 {\[Xi], 0, 3 (2 \[Pi])},
 PlotRange -> All,
 
 PlotLabel -> "P(z-C t)",
 LabelStyle -> Directive[FontSize -> Medium, Black, Bold],
 AxesStyle -> Black,
 AxesLabel -> {"z", "A"},
 ImageSize -> Large,
 PlotRange -> All
 ]

If I remove LabelStyle option it works very fine!

What could be the issue?

10

If you give FontSize a number, it is ok.

Plot[Evaluate[{P[\[Xi]]}], {\[Xi], 0, 3 (2 \[Pi])}, PlotRange -> All, 
 PlotLabel -> "P(z-C t)", 
 LabelStyle -> Directive[FontSize -> 14, Black, Bold], 
 AxesStyle -> Black, AxesLabel -> {"z", "A"}, ImageSize -> Large, 
 PlotRange -> All]
11

Thank you, Bruce!
Agree, but is this a bug of the 10.0.2.0? Or the feature?