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Font HOWTO For Linux
big-dog writes "The Register is running a good HOWTO on getting fonts to look better in Linux." Making things look purty is always good.
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Maybe it's just me, but the after picture looks worse than the before picture. Or, maybe it's just a case of "Oops, I named the files wrong."
Overrated / Underrated : Moderation
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/nation /3876857.htm
Chicago2600.net more than a lifestyle, its a survival trait.
Well, personally, I prefer to read text without AA, because anti-aliased text is too blurry. Sure it looks pretty on screenshots and you can impress al your friends, but really, when I have to read large amounts of text from a pc screen my eyes get tired twice as wuickly with AA switched on. Sharp edges help.
Now, merely having TTFs or anti-aliasing isn't enough. Take a look at this screen shot of TTFs in an OpenOffice.org document. They're clunky and blocky and basically impossible to distinguish from each other. However, with a bit of tweaking we can make them look distinct, slick and refined, as you can see in this screen shot.
I think everyone agrees that the first one is horrible. And the second... well maybe it's just me, but I can't see a difference between their tweaked AA and my own no-tweaked non-AA...
Join the elite! Post at score:2! Ghostwheel is online.
Ugly fonts are harder to read means you become less productive.
'nuff said.
^_^
> Fonts are one of the last barriers to a linux migration.
Your average user doesn't know shit about whether fonts are antialiased or cleartype or whatnot.
No, a desktop thats as easily configurable and usable for an average user as a windows or mac osx is.
Not that I want to see linux become Windows - which seems to be where the momentum is. I would love to see it evolve into a truly superior desktop platform, through the creativity of the self-styled 'geniuses' coding for it.
If Mac could build OSX out of BSD, why is linux still a server platform with a slipshod desktop grafted on top? I guess its the lack of a single vision and a focused effort to make it happen.
Too many cooks. Oh well. It'll probably always be a good router or fileserver.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
I've had some "seasoned" admins that I've worked with for a few years actually look suprised when I mentioned that you could (gasp) mount /usr as a read only file system if you really needed to protect it.
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
I don't consider myself to be just the 'average user', yet I find attractive fonts to be VERY important. It's one of my biggest peeves with my Sparc/Solaris boxes. I really do think some nice fonts would REALLY clean up the unix/linux interfaces in general.
listen here.
you're preaching to the choir.
but your an asshat. take a deep breath and think before you speak.
and whether your OS is gui driven or cli driven is irrelevant. it's the use you make of it that is (or isn't) "mindless".
i for one am sick of typing everything, and sick of the tendonitis i've developed from years of doing so.
only do-nothing IT guys and admins brag about using a command line.
i do however have a problem with linux becoming windows, because noone seems to be able to think of anything better.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Well to start. Why shouldn't admins have a nice screen to look at? I use to work with a very very nice monitor (commercial OS) that had such a beautiful screen. Shame I couldn't take it home with me. Now I can have the same experience with my home OS. Two by unified userbase you wouldn't be forgetting all the different varieties of Unix out there would you? Three it is a myth that you have to give up control while having ease of learning as well as use. However the present problem I see with what's coming out is that an interface that "grows" with you as you transit from newbie to power-user is hard to do. Most interfaces commercial or otherwise hit either end, while being weak in the middle. Can an interface be for everyone? Yes, but it may mean more work and looking very hard at what we presently assume.
From the last time I did this:
1-an interface needs to be free of unnecessary elements at all time. In other words (does this contribute to the goal(s) being achieved?).
2-An interface needs to keep it's audiance in mind. Professional? Amateur? Artist? Blue-blood?
3-Organizing devices must leverage common elements while going from general to specific.
4-Make the interface playable by making the consequences of actions as reversable as possible.
5-If an action is unreversable let the user know in a non-threatening, non-insulting way.
6-Choose intelligent defaults.
7-Keep the perception as much as possible that the user is in control of the situation.
8-If control is needed in a situation (a certain sequence needs to be followed) guide the user as gently as possible.
9-As part of transiting from newbie to power-user. Have the interface show you some of the alternative ways to accomplich the same task.
10-User control of variable preferences is one way to accomplish gradual disclosure of the power that lies beneath without intimidating the user.
Anyone else want to add anything?
Really.
Well, most users I know who have windows Xp and a laptop can certainly tell if cleartype is turned off once it has been turned on.
I run a 1600x1200, 15.1" lcd with Cleartype, and with Windows set to 120DPI.
I can't believe I'm saying it, but the fonts are leagues better looking than any other system I can get my hands on. Microsoft did something right.
This is so easy to read and so smooth looking, I've actually given up using an X desktop whenever possible. I would rather edit in Codewright in windows than work with the ugly fonts in X. IT's that much easier to read and easier on the eyes.
This is the first system I've ever had where I can really say the fonts look georgeous.
I don't get it. The two screenshots he shows to compare (923.png and 930.png) look identical to me, except that one has anti-aliasing and one doesn't. He claims the second one looks better, but I don't see it.
In fact, I think his screenshots look pretty ugly in general. He's managed to duplicate the blocky, hard-edged look of Windows 9x quite well, but I hardly consider this attractive. Red Hat 8.0's fonts look significantly better than his screenshots.
Mac OS X still has a wide lead on best look fonts, but IMO a modern Linux box has superior fonts to any version of Windows.
Another trick to getting nice fonts is to insure you've installed any scalable fonts you can get your hands on.
heres a question, i dont know the answer to this though:
if you are building a device, that breaks a patent for your own personal use, is it legal?
i though patents were to protect companies from others stealing their hard work? since i am making it for my own use and not selling it, do patents apply?
i would say no, because patents protect companies for them to recoup the costs and make money. since i am not selling it, is it illegal?
I cannot comprehend what is so hard about making fonts work. TrueType is a known format. The OS loads it up and the programs use the OS to interact with the fonts, right? Windows and Mac handle it fine, what exactly is the cause of the difficulty under Linux?
Ok so here I am with my first moderator points in who knows how
long[0] and I wanted to use them so badly on this thread because I am
really new to this whole X font thing having spent so much time in a
self imposed exile to the command line for two years[1]. So I am back
to using X and this font HOWTO sounded like a great idea. Until I
started reading it. To paraphrase "Just unpack the src RPM". Well
hell I thought HOWTOs were supposed to be distro independent because
the HOWTO might outlive the distro and because not every one uses
Uber_Distro_GNU/Linux. I fit in to that latter category. I run
Slackware and some people run Debian. Now it is possible to unpack
that RPM and futs with it for a little while and hope that it works
no matter what distro you are on but the HOWTOs are supposed to "speak
in a language that everyone can comprehend."[2]
One of the tricks to Linux's success is that is very portable to any
arch. Shouldn't the HOWTOs be written with the same idea?
I really did want to use those mod points here. Oh well better luck
next thread.
[0] remember that 1000 mod pointed post? Well apparently I have
served my time.
[1] to better learn this thing called Linux better than a GUI will
ever allow.
[2] no thats not a Living Color song.
Ascii artist &