[ubuntu-art] Re-Bringup: FreeSans as default font?

[Mark Shuttleworth]

Denis Jacquerye wrote:
> Luxi Sans comes with X.org but its license is a bit restrictive:
> http://www.xfree86.org/current/LICENSE11.html#34
> It cannot be modified and therefore many characters needed in some
> languages cannot be added. The font is the default font for RedHat's
> BlueCurve theme.
> Depending on what other fonts are installed some other characters in
> present Scripts will be blurry or sharp.
>
> Bitstream Vera is very much readable. DejaVu fonts extends those fonts
> with many characters and quality is still improving. Right now some
> present script (Latin; Cyrillic, Greek, Armenian, Arabic) are
> partially hinted, so some are share and others blurry. Arabic glyphs
> in DejaVu Sans are inappropriate for some users, maybe consider using
> DejaVu Sans LGC. We hope to have more hinted chararacters by the next
> release so more languages have all sharp and crisp characters. This is
> a major improvement over Bitstream Vera but some languages still need
> a few improvements to have the same quality.
>
> FreeSans has lots of characters, too many might even say, with
> quantity over quality. The font does not have hinting instructions and
> can be blurry at some sizes. Arabic glyphs in FreeSans are
> inappropriate for some users. This is an important font to have (if
> you want lots of characters) but I don't think it should be the
> default font (Helvetica readability, blurry, some people really don't
> like it).
>
> Looking at the Vista fonts, especially Segoe UI, there are no
> freefonts available with the same characters, quality and features at
> the moment. DejaVu Sans LGC will probably be as good (if not better)
> sometimes this summer.
> Right now there is also a problem with font renderers, they do not
> handle some of the features some fonts have, like 'locl' allowing
> specific glyphs for some languages or diacritics placement (Pango
> handles it; but not Qt3).
>
> There are a lot of free fonts out there, and a few opensource ones.
> But even fewer are of good quality with hinting, kerning and other
> features needed for good digital typography for a decent number of
> languages (even with just Latin/Greek/Cyrillic scripts).
I've cc'd mdz and mvo for comment on whether we can continue to upload
better fonts after release.

This is the best analysis of the free font scene that I've seen in a
while. Denis, can you do a review of the current font configurations in
Ubuntu and make any recommendations? If a font like DejaVu Sans LGC is
on a rapid trajectory, we could consider making it a default font now if
we can upload better versions after release.

Mark
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-art/attachments/20060501/45332418/attachment.htm