Differences between version 21 and predecessor to the previous major change of FontNotes.
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| Newer page: | version 21 | Last edited on Sunday, July 30, 2006 3:39:28 am | by PaulDexter | Revert |
| Older page: | version 9 | Last edited on Wednesday, July 9, 2003 4:12:14 pm | by AlastairPorter | Revert |
@@ -1,26 +1,58 @@
Here are some pages that describe how fonts work, and how to set up nice fonts on your system.
-Note - The freetype
library (for displaying truetype
fonts) has recently started using [fontconfig|http://www.fontconfig.org]
for configuration rather than !
XftConfig, which is now obsolete..
.
+Note: the FreeType
library (for displaying TrueType
fonts) has recently started using FontConfig
for configuration rather than ~
XftConfig, which is now obsolete.
-BitstreamVera is a free TrueType font specifically developed for FreeSoftware by [GNOME] and Bitstream (a company that makes fonts).
+BitstreamVera is a free TrueType font specifically developed for FreeSoftware by [GNOME] and Bitstream (a company that makes fonts). They look much nicer than the default Luxi fonts (especially sans-serif) that Red Hat use, so you can replace them with a simple substitution, either system wide in <tt>/etc/fonts/local.conf</tt> or <tt>~~/.fonts.conf</tt> for your user alone. ([Google], find this page on <tt>how to change the default KDE font</tt> please!)
-Using AntiAliasedFonts in graphical applications.
+<verbatim>
+<alias>
+ <family>sans-serif</family>
+ <prefer>
+ <family>Bitstream Vera Sans</family>
+ <family>Luxi Sans</family>
+ <family>Albany AMT</family>
+ <family>Verdana</family>
+ <family>Nimbus Sans L</family>
+ <family>Arial</family>
+ <family>Helvetica</family>
+ </prefer>
+</alias>
+</verbatim>
-Laptop users might be interested in SubPixelAntiAliasing.
+Change the ordering to suit!
-See UnicodeNotes for hints about font support for unicode applications.
+!!! Enable or disable hinting
-And some how-tos:
+Put the following into your <tt>/etc/fonts/local.conf</tt> or <tt>~~/.fonts.conf</tt> to enable or disable automatic hinting. If you set it to false, fonts don't scale very well (it often defaults off for patent reasons). Set it to true and the fonts look smoother.
-* OpenOfficeFonts to install new
fonts under OpenOffice
+<verbatim>
+<?xml version="1."?>
+<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "
fonts.dtd">
+<fontconfig>
+ <match target="font">
+ <edit name="autohint" mode="assign">
+ <bool>true</bool>
+ </edit>
+ </match>
+</fontconfig>
+</verbatim>
-*
[HowToFontHOWTO] gives lots of background and overview about the different kinds of fonts (Type1, Truetype), faces (serif, sans
-serif), and basically everything you ever wanted to know
.
+Thanks to
[GNOME Hacks | http://gnome
-hacks.jodrell.net/hacks.html?id=67]
.
-* [HowToTTXFree86] describes setting up your X server to use true type fonts, such as those used by MicrosoftWindows.
+!!! Miscellaneous Technical Notes:
-* [HowToTTDebian] describes true type
fonts for debian users
, including viewing on screen via applications such as X
, groff
(1
) and tex
, as well as printing via ghostscript
.
+In the <tt>
fonts.dir</tt> file
, you can point different encodings (charsets) to the same physical file
, __BUT ONLY FOR SCALABLE FONTS__. I spent quite a while trying to determine why my characters were wrong when I tried to do this for a bitmap font
(eg a 75dpi one
). It is the scalable font backends that do the magic here
, not X itself
.
-* The XFree86 Font De-uglification HOWTO ([HowToFDU] or
http://feenix.burgiss.net/ldp/fdu/)
is probably the most up-to-date/relevant infomation for setting up fonts under recent ([XFree86] 4) distributions.
+!!! See also
+
+* Using AntiAliasedFonts in graphical applications. Laptop users might also be interested in SubPixelAntiAliasing.
+* See UnicodeNotes for hints about font support for unicode applications.
+* OpenOfficeFonts to install new fonts under OpenOffice
+* [Font HOWTO | http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Font-HOWTO/] gives lots of background and overview about the different kinds of fonts ([Type1], TrueType), faces (<tt>serif</tt>, <tt>sans-serif</tt>), and basically everything you ever wanted to know.
+* [TrueType Fonts with XFree86 4.x mini-HOWTO | http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/TT-XFree86.html] describes setting up your [XServer] to use true type fonts, such as those used by MicrosoftWindows.
+* [TrueType Fonts in Debian mini-HOWTO | http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/TT-Debian.html] describes true type fonts for [Debian] users, including viewing on screen via applications such as X, groff(1) and tex, as well as printing via GhostScript.
+
* The [
XFree86 Font De-uglification HOWTO |
http://feenix.burgiss.net/ldp/fdu/]
is probably the most up-to-date/relevant infomation for setting up fonts under recent ([XFree86] 4) distributions.
+* [Introduction to Fonts in Linux | http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=04/10/08/1916222] - overview of font systems
-!Miscellaneous Technical Notes:
-* In the fonts.dir file, you can point different encodings (charsets) to the same physical file, __BUT ONLY FOR SCALABLE FONTS__. I spent quite a while trying to determine why my characters were wrong when I tried to do this for a bitmap font (eg a 75dpi one). It is the scalable font backends that do the magic here, not X itself.
+----
+[CategoryXFree86Notes]
