fonts in KDE always look worse than in GTK for me

bughunter2 · 2008-05-30 20:43:47

Hello, here's a screen shot, compare the fonts of the GTK window with the fonts in the KDE window and judge for yourself:

http://xs127.xs.to/xs127/08225/fonts733.png

I have no specific KDE font configuration enabled, have no ~/fonts.conf either... Why don't fonts look the same in GTK and KDE?

Please post hints/opinions...

Last edited by bughunter2 (2008-05-30 20:44:11)

kadath · 2008-05-30 22:06:29

To me, the KDE screenshot's fonts look nicer. The hinting isn't so jagged as in the GTK shot.

miggols99 · 2008-05-30 22:48:14

The Gtk fonts look pretty jagged, and the KDE fonts look like a horrible attempt at subpixel hinting (or anti-aliasing)...go into kcontrol and turn off anti-aliasing in the fonts area if you think the Gtk fonts look nice...

Using a CRT perhaps?

Last edited by miggols99 (2008-05-30 22:48:39)

bughunter2 · 2008-06-02 08:19:17

I'm using a Samsung SyncMaster 940BF (TFT). To me the fonts in GTK look nicer (still not perfect) than the way KDE renders them (=more blurry).
Without anti-aliasing I predict the fonts will look even worse.

I tried the fontconfig files from www.sharpfonts.com once and had to tweak them here and there, looked OK but still way worse than on Windows (for some fonts). Couldn't get Tahoma right, which I wanted to try since I use it in XP too.

edward.al · 2008-06-02 08:45:09

enable subpixel hinting for fonts is better with LCD...
or you may want to install the patched packages,
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fon … er_enabled

bughunter2 · 2008-06-02 09:33:31

edward.al wrote:

enable subpixel hinting for fonts is better with LCD...
or you may want to install the patched packages,
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fon … er_enabled

I'll try that. But even if that works I have one question; why do fonts in GTK/KDE not look the same?

EDIT: Tried it, but can't recognize any differences.

Last edited by bughunter2 (2008-06-02 10:11:09)

ozar · 2008-06-02 14:33:21

I use full subpixel hinting in both environments and fonts have always looked a bit sharper for me under Gnome than they do in KDE, although I do generally run KDE as my default environment. Not sure why that is, but I've found it to be that way for about 8 years, now.

Edit: Oh, I should add that they look darn good in either environment on my machine.

Last edited by ozar (2008-06-02 14:34:32)

GogglesGuy · 2008-06-02 14:52:56

bughunter2 wrote:

edward.al wrote:
enable subpixel hinting for fonts is better with LCD...
or you may want to install the patched packages,
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fon … er_enabled
I'll try that. But even if that works I have one question; why do fonts in GTK/KDE not look the same?
EDIT: Tried it, but can't recognize any differences.

They don't use the same configuration...

Rokixz · 2008-06-02 15:17:48

http://smail.lt/users/klyvis/fonts.conf
Try to save this in your home directory as .fonts.conf

bughunter2 · 2008-06-02 16:32:00

GogglesGuy wrote:

bughunter2 wrote:
edward.al wrote:
enable subpixel hinting for fonts is better with LCD...
or you may want to install the patched packages,
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fon … er_enabled
I'll try that. But even if that works I have one question; why do fonts in GTK/KDE not look the same?
EDIT: Tried it, but can't recognize any differences.
They don't use the same configuration...

I thought GTK/KDE should obey whatever configurations are in /etc/fonts and ~/.fonts.conf? Or how exactly do these toolkits load font configurations?

Rokixz wrote:

http://smail.lt/users/klyvis/fonts.conf
Try to save this in your home directory as .fonts.conf

Thanks Will give it a try.

Last edited by bughunter2 (2008-06-02 16:32:43)

ozar · 2008-06-02 17:22:03

Rokixz wrote:

http://smail.lt/users/klyvis/fonts.conf
Try to save this in your home directory as .fonts.conf

That's exactly what I have in fonts.conf but KDE fonts still never look quite as sharp as they do in Gnome, and they never have. I've just accepted it as is, and continue to use KDE anyway.

zmeyski · 2008-06-07 14:23:04

Hi,

could you post the contents of your ~/.kde/share/config/kdeglobals and kcmfonts. I have the kind of fonts in KDE that you want to achieve and i think i know why. Just need to compare something.

br

eldarion · 2008-06-10 22:16:22

Try using this in your /etc/fonts/local.conf

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd">

<!-- the cathectic LCD tweaks, from linuxquestions.org,
 http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?postid=1361098#post1361098 -->

<fontconfig>

<!-- Disable sub-pixel rendering.
 X detects it anyway, and if you set this as well, it just looks really horrible  -->
<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>hintfull</const>
    </edit>
 </match>

<!-- The first part of the 'magic.'
 This makes the fonts start to look nice,
 but some of the shapes will be distorted, so hinting is needed still -->
 <match target="font" >
    <edit mode="assign" name="antialias">
     <bool>true</bool>
    </edit>
 </match>

<!-- Autohinter is not turned on automatically.
 Only disable this if you have recompiled Freetype with the bytecode interpreter,
 which is run automatically.<br />  -->
 <match target="pattern" >
    <edit mode="assign" name="autohint">
     <bool>true</bool>
    </edit>
 </match>
 <match target="font">
         <test name="weight" compare="more">
                 <const>medium</const>
         </test>
         <edit name="autohint" mode="assign">
                 <bool>false</bool>
         </edit>
 </match>
<!-- Helvetica is a non true type font, and will look bad.
 This replaces it with whatever is the default sans-serif font -->
 <match target="pattern" name="family" >
    <test name="family" qual="any" >
     <string>Helvetica</string>
    </test>
    <edit mode="assign" name="family" >
     <string>sans-serif</string>
    </edit>
 </match>



 <dir>~/.fonts</dir>
</fontconfig>

Arch Linux

#1 2008-05-30 20:43:47

fonts in KDE always look worse than in GTK for me

#2 2008-05-30 22:06:29

Re: fonts in KDE always look worse than in GTK for me

#3 2008-05-30 22:48:14

Re: fonts in KDE always look worse than in GTK for me

#4 2008-06-02 08:19:17

Re: fonts in KDE always look worse than in GTK for me

#5 2008-06-02 08:45:09

Re: fonts in KDE always look worse than in GTK for me

#6 2008-06-02 09:33:31

Re: fonts in KDE always look worse than in GTK for me

#7 2008-06-02 14:33:21

Re: fonts in KDE always look worse than in GTK for me

#8 2008-06-02 14:52:56

Re: fonts in KDE always look worse than in GTK for me

#9 2008-06-02 15:17:48

Re: fonts in KDE always look worse than in GTK for me

#10 2008-06-02 16:32:00

Re: fonts in KDE always look worse than in GTK for me

#11 2008-06-02 17:22:03

Re: fonts in KDE always look worse than in GTK for me

#12 2008-06-07 14:23:04

Re: fonts in KDE always look worse than in GTK for me

#13 2008-06-10 22:16:22

Re: fonts in KDE always look worse than in GTK for me

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