Yet another thread concerning Fonts

Janusz11 · 2009-01-11 22:19:27

Guys, I'm sorry! I know, this is the 100.000.000.XXX thread concerning fonts. However, I'm really struggling to set them up and look nice on Arch.

I've read several threads in the forum concerning this issue. I have of course checked the Wiki and the Beginners Guide and went over this article again and again. But no matter what I do, they just don't look right.

All I'm trying to do is make them look like in Zenwalk. See the screenshots. I have marked some letters to point you towards what I'm talking about.

My ~/.fonts.conf:

<?xml version="1.0"?><!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd">
<fontconfig>
 <match target="font" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="rgba" >
   <const>none</const>
  </edit>
 </match>
 <match target="font" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="hinting" >
   <bool>true</bool>
  </edit>
 </match>
 <match target="font" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="hintstyle" >
   <const>hintmedium</const>
  </edit>
 </match>
 <match target="font" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="antialias" >
   <bool>true</bool>
  </edit>
 </match>
 <match target="pattern">
    <edit name="dpi" mode="assign"><double>96</double></edit>
 </match>
</fontconfig>

There is no such file in Zenwalk, so I can't compare.

I use Xfce4 on Arch as well as on Zenwalk. The settings for Xfce, the browser and e-mail client are the same for Zenwalk and Arch. I even copied over fonts that I use in Zenwalk. But they look totally different here on Arch (see screenshots)!

I'm out of ideas and don't know what causes the difference. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Btw., I use a CRT.

Fonts in Arch Linux 64:
http://www.2and2.net/files/496a6e620038f.png

Fonts in Zenwalk:
http://www.2and2.net/files/496a6ecb31471.png

Last edited by Janusz11 (2009-01-11 22:22:18)

litemotiv · 2009-01-11 22:27:24

it looks like you have too much hinting in Arch, try putting this in ~/.fonts.conf

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd">
<fontconfig>
   <match target="font" >
      <edit name="rgba" mode="assign"><const>rgb</const></edit>
      <edit name="hinting" mode="assign"><bool>true</bool></edit>
      <edit name="antialias" mode="assign"><bool>true</bool></edit>
      <edit name="autohint" mode="assign"><bool>false</bool></edit>
      <edit mode="assign" name="hintstyle"><const>hintslight</const></edit>
   </match>     
</fontconfig>

if you have cairo-lcd installed, you can also put this in ~/.Xresources

Xft.lcdfilter:  lcddefault
Xft.hintstyle:  hintslight

Nezmer · 2009-01-11 22:54:04

You need to set Xft settings . If you didn't install any modified Xft libraries , you can change your settings from 'xfce-setting-show ui' . I personally use slight hinting .

Last edited by Nezmer (2009-01-11 22:54:49)

Janusz11 · 2009-01-11 22:57:08

Ha! Thanks alot, litemotiv! The "Xft.hintstyle: hintslight" did the trick! The fonts still look a little odd in places and not like in Zenwalk. But better than before and now I have something new to play around with and go from there. Maybe I find the right tweaks and settings in the end to make the fonts look right.

Thanks again and if anyone has some more ideas, just keep 'em coming!

Last edited by Janusz11 (2009-01-11 22:58:16)

litemotiv · 2009-01-11 23:34:28

i don't have a crt monitor myself so mostly likely you can do without the rgba (subpixel hinting) parameter, it might produce less fringing or small artifacts on your screen without it (set to none). good luck

dr/owned · 2009-01-12 03:59:22

Alternatively (for people that come off google or whatever), I just followed the wiki page on LCD fonts from the AUR and it looks just as good as Cleartype in XP. I personally prefer sub-pixel smoothing set to slight hinting as well.

Janusz11 · 2009-01-17 08:19:11

Just a short update. I have by now tried almost everything (I think), including going through other Wiki tips concerning fonts. And while I managed to make the fonts look pretty good in general, there are still differences- most noticeable in OpenOffice.org. I don't know, but that could as well be a problem of OOo. Its strange nonetheless.

I have tried several configurations with .fonts.conf and/or .Xresources. I have tried my xorg.conf from Zenwalk with Arch Linux, I've even gone so far to copy over the fonts from Zenwalk to Arch. But none of that made the fonts look like in Zen.

Anyway, I copied the Arch fonts back and restored my xorg.conf and set up only a .fonts.conf. I managed to make them look good (but different) and therefore will stick with what I have archived for now. Maybe this really has something to do with the fact that I'm still using a CRT.

Thanks for all your help!

Btw., this is how fonts look now:
http://www.2and2.net/files/4971920d91f60.png

dav7 · 2009-01-17 08:52:23

You might ask the Zenwalk guys how they configured freetype, and copy the files they name over to Arch.

litemotiv · 2009-01-17 12:07:01

i believe OpenOffice needs a patch to use the proper font hinting, i know there has been a lot of dicussion/bug reports about this on Ubuntu as well in the past. Zenwalk probably uses the right patches by default, the vanilla version in Arch doesn't. i don't use OO myself so i can't tell you the specific details.

but the rest of your fonts look pretty good already i think. :-)

Nezmer · 2009-01-17 12:16:10

You are still running XFCE , right ?
Can you post the contents of '~/.config/xfce4/Xft.xrdb' ?

Janusz11 · 2009-01-17 22:02:22

Nezmer wrote:

You are still running XFCE , right ?
Can you post the contents of '~/.config/xfce4/Xft.xrdb' ?

Sure! Here you go:

Xft.antialias: 1
Xft.hinting: 1
Xft.hintstyle: hintfull
Xft.rgba: none

Hey dav7, there might indeed be differences in how the fonts got compiled in ZEnwalk compared to Arch. But for the Microsoft fonts like Times New Roman I have a ./fonts folder in my /home directory- they are not coming with Zenwalk by default. I copied that folder over to Arch but that made absolutely no difference; I don't know if OOo even made use of that folder (in Zenwalk it does, but with Arch I'm not so sure).

litemotiv wrote:

but the rest of your fonts look pretty good already i think. :-)

Yes, thanks litemotiv. I'm pretty happy with the look of the fonts in general. That's why I also accept that they still look a little strange in OOo. :-)

perbh · 2009-01-18 06:37:32

I'm also an ardent xfce4 user. Seeing most of the applications are either gnome or kde based, they will tend to use the settings from these desktops. In my case - it led to wayyyy too large fonts. So what I did in the end was to set up both gnome and kde to my own liking as far as font sizes were concerned. Then, when I finally switch back to xfce4, my fonts were good.

litemotiv · 2009-01-18 14:27:55

Janusz11 wrote:

Nezmer wrote:
You are still running XFCE , right ?
Can you post the contents of '~/.config/xfce4/Xft.xrdb' ?
Sure! Here you go:
Xft.antialias: 1
Xft.hinting: 1
Xft.hintstyle: hintfull
Xft.rgba: none

the above still shows hintfull for hintstyle, which should produce fonts like in your OO screenshot. try setting it to hintslight instead.

Janusz11 · 2009-01-18 20:08:49

litemotiv wrote:

the above still shows hintfull for hintstyle, which should produce fonts like in your OO screenshot. try setting it to hintslight instead.

Yes, but if I set hintstyle to hintslight the fonts in my browser look crap. And I prefer the fonts in the browser look good over the fonts in OOo. I spent more time in the internet than writing documents. ;-)

Last edited by Janusz11 (2009-01-18 20:09:43)

Nezmer · 2009-01-19 00:35:00

I don't know If this suggestion is related to your problem .
Did you try :

export OOO_FORCE_DESKTOP=gnome

Janusz11 · 2009-01-21 18:32:35

Nezmer wrote:

I don't know If this suggestion is related to your problem .
Did you try :
export OOO_FORCE_DESKTOP=gnome

Thanks Nezmer. But it didn't change anything.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-01-11 22:19:27

Yet another thread concerning Fonts

#2 2009-01-11 22:27:24

Re: Yet another thread concerning Fonts

#3 2009-01-11 22:54:04

Re: Yet another thread concerning Fonts

#4 2009-01-11 22:57:08

Re: Yet another thread concerning Fonts

#5 2009-01-11 23:34:28

Re: Yet another thread concerning Fonts

#6 2009-01-12 03:59:22

Re: Yet another thread concerning Fonts

#7 2009-01-17 08:19:11

Re: Yet another thread concerning Fonts

#8 2009-01-17 08:52:23

Re: Yet another thread concerning Fonts

#9 2009-01-17 12:07:01

Re: Yet another thread concerning Fonts

#10 2009-01-17 12:16:10

Re: Yet another thread concerning Fonts

#11 2009-01-17 22:02:22

Re: Yet another thread concerning Fonts

#12 2009-01-18 06:37:32

Re: Yet another thread concerning Fonts

#13 2009-01-18 14:27:55

Re: Yet another thread concerning Fonts

#14 2009-01-18 20:08:49

Re: Yet another thread concerning Fonts

#15 2009-01-19 00:35:00

Re: Yet another thread concerning Fonts

#16 2009-01-21 18:32:35

Re: Yet another thread concerning Fonts

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