Differences between version 17 and predecessor to the previous major change of FontNotes.
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| Newer page: | version 17 | Last edited on Monday, October 25, 2004 2:19:35 pm | by AristotlePagaltzis | 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.
+!!! Disable hinting
-And some how-tos:
+Put the following into your <tt>~~/.fonts.conf</tt> to enable or disable automatic hinting. If you set it to false, fonts look very crisp. 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.
-!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]
