Bug 171527 – media-libs/fontconfig - bad default configuration

• Status: RESOLVED UPSTREAM
• Product: Gentoo Linux

[Description Nicola 2007-03-20 06:56:06 UTC]

By default xorg fonts look very bad, however is not difficult improve it for example following this guide:

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Xorg_and_Fonts

for example this is my ~./fonts.conf

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd">
<fontconfig>
        <!-- Info at http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Xorg_and_Fonts -->

        <!-- Replace Courier with a better-looking font -->
        <match target="pattern" name="family">
                <test name="family" qual="any">
                        <string>Courier</string>
                </test>
                <edit name="family" mode="assign">
                        <!-- Other choices - Courier New, Luxi Mono -->
                        <string>Courier New</string>
                </edit>
        </match>

        <match target="font">
                <edit name="antialias" mode="assign">
                        <bool>true</bool>
                </edit>
                <edit name="autohint" mode="assign">
                        <bool>false</bool>
                </edit>
                <edit name="hinting" mode="assign">
                        <bool>true</bool>
                </edit>
                <edit name="hintstyle" mode="assign">
                        <const>hintfull</const>
                </edit>
                <edit name="rgba" mode="assign">
                        <const>rgb</const>
                </edit>
        </match>
        <!-- Disable autohint for bold fonts, otherwise they look *too* bold -->
        <match target="font">
                <test name="weight" compare="more">
                        <const>medium</const>
                </test>
                <edit name="autohint" mode="assign">
                        <bool>false</bool>
                </edit>
        </match>
        <!-- Reject bitmap fonts in favour of Truetype, Postscript, etc. -->
        <selectfont>
                <rejectfont>
                        <pattern>
                                <patelt name="scalable">
                                        <bool>false</bool>
                                </patelt>
                        </pattern>
                </rejectfont>
        </selectfont>
</fontconfig>

why not make a better default?  Or a specific USE? 

For example ubuntu fonts look great without touch any config file ...

thanks
Nicola


Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.install xorg-x11
2.open firefox, for example http://www.joomla.org/
3. look the fonts of the page

[Comment 1 Peter Alfredsen (RETIRED) 2008-05-31 14:00:43 UTC]

I am unable to reproduce this with fontconfig-2.5.93

[Comment 2 Peter Volkov (RETIRED) 2008-06-22 16:57:33 UTC]

This configuration is good for LCD displays. Is it same good for CRT displays?

[Comment 3 Ryan Hill (RETIRED) 2009-07-12 03:47:03 UTC]

what works for one person doesn't always work for another.  rather than spend a lot of our own time and energy trying to strike a balance, let's leave it to the people who know what they're doing. ;)