[SOLVED] Application fonts look different on kde4 vs on wmfs or fluxbox

veeall · 09-30-2011, 03:08 PM

What can be done to make fonts on all applications look the same whether i use kde4 or some other window manager?

I like how kde4 displays fonts, but when i log into fluxbox or wmfs, gtk fonts are different, same goes for Opera. I've attached two screenshots of an opera popup menu. Fonts on wmfs (the second picture) look blurry.

I'm using qtcurve style for qt and gtk apps.
Dpi should be set to 96 on all wm-s.
I've resolved a problem with gtk fonts looking blurry in kde4, compared to qt ones, by deleting ~/.kde/share/config/gtkrc-2.0 and ~/.kde/share/config/gtkrc, but in other wms it is still the issue.

My ~/.fonts.conf

Code:

<?xml version='1.0'?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM 'fonts.dtd'>
<fontconfig>
 <!--  Use the Autohinter -->
 <match target="font">
  <edit mode="assign" name="autohint">
   <bool>true</bool>
  </edit>
 </match>
 <match target="font">
  <test compare="more" name="weight">
   <const>medium</const>
  </test>
 </match>
 <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>hintmedium</const>
  </edit>
 </match>
 <dir>~/.fonts</dir>
 <match target="font">
  <edit mode="assign" name="antialias">
   <bool>true</bool>
  </edit>
 </match>
</fontconfig>

frankbell · 09-30-2011, 07:02 PM

You will likely need to configure them in the styles or appearance sections of the respective Window manager. In Fluxbox, that is in the individual style.

http://fluxbox-wiki.org/index.php?title=Change_font

In Opera, you can configure the fonts in Settings-->Preferences-->Advanced-->Fonts.

veeall · 10-01-2011, 06:17 AM

No, that is not the case here, i'm sure. From the link above:

Quote:

First of all an important fact to know is that fluxbox doesn't control the font of external apps such as firefox or k3b. Those fonts are controlled by their related toolkits (gtk, qt,...), fluxbox fonts are only for the toolbar, the windowtitle and the menu (rootmenu, windowmenu, toolbarmenu...).

Gtk and qt fonts do look different, when used outside kde4. I wonder what is causing this? I've already set opera fonts to Dejavu Sans, but they are differently antialiased or hinted as seen in posted screenshots.

Edit: My ~/.gtkrc-2.0

Quote:

# DO NOT EDIT! This file will be overwritten by LXAppearance.
# Any customization should be done in ~/.gtkrc-2.0.mine instead.

gtk-theme-name="QtCurve"
gtk-icon-theme-name="oxygen"
gtk-font-name="Liberation Sans 9"
gtk-cursor-theme-name="Segamini"
gtk-cursor-theme-size=0
gtk-toolbar-style=GTK_TOOLBAR_BOTH_HORIZ
gtk-toolbar-icon-size=GTK_ICON_SIZE_LARGE_TOOLBAR
gtk-button-images=1
gtk-menu-images=1
gtk-enable-event-sounds=1
gtk-enable-input-feedback-sounds=1
include "/home/m/.gtkrc-2.0.mine"

Edit: Added gtk screenshots, cahnge is not so dramatic with gimp as with opera.

Bindestreck · 10-01-2011, 12:42 PM

If you want to fine-tune your font, change the part of your .font.conf to this:

<edit mode="assign" name="rgba">
<const>none</const>

-->

<edit mode="assign" name="rgba">
<const>rgb</const>

<edit mode="assign" name="hintstyle">
<const>hintmedium</const>

-->
<edit mode="assign" name="hintstyle">
<const>hintfull</const>

veeall · 10-01-2011, 01:38 PM

Ok, finally resolved the issue by installing xsettingsd. Found out about it here: Diagnosing font issues on Linux

Apparently gnome users running fluxbox have noted the problem too, running 'gnome-settings-daemon' at startup solves it, as mentioned here.

Thanks to everybody for thinking along!

frankbell · 10-01-2011, 07:20 PM

Thanks for the link to xsettingsd.

Consistency in fonts is not something I personally care about, but many person do, so it's really nice to have that information to pass along to others.

Bindestreck · 10-01-2011, 07:29 PM

What is the difference of .font.conf and xsettingsd?

veeall · 10-02-2011, 06:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eXpander_

What is the difference of .font.conf and xsettingsd?

Can't answer that. I guess xsettingsd enables to configure (via ~/.xsettingsd), and load xft(?) or xsettings(?) font settings for lighter wms which doesn't already have dedicated 'gnome-settings-daemon'-like infrastructure in place to handle different approaches to fonts of different gui toolkits.

I have no idea, but it worked.

My ~/.xsettingsd, mostly from the xsettingsd man page:

Code:

       Net/ThemeName "QtCurve"
       Xft/Antialias 1
       Xft/DPI 100352
       Xft/HintStyle "hintmedium"
       Xft/Hinting 1
       Xft/RGBA "none"
       Xft/lcdfilter "none"