Default fonts in Firefox

[Ian Jackson]

Ming Hua writes ("Re: Default fonts in Firefox"):
> Is this by any chance the same problem as Debian bug #299697 [1]?

It does seem to be closely related.  But I have a few obvious and
perhaps-stupid questions.

As I understand it, fontconfig supply fonts for many purposes, besides
the display of web pages.  Some of these purposes, including
typesetting and printing, demand that the font actually used has the
same metrics as the one the document author intended.

Webpages are not one of these purposes.  A website is not entitled to
expect that the user's system will have any particular font (or a
reasonable-looking font with particular metrics).

So the font resolution algorithm needs to be different for the case
when the metrics have to be right (printing etc.) and for the case
where it is more important to be pretty (web pages).

Does fontconfig support that distinction ?  If not, then both problems
cannot be solved correctly with the same fontconfig configuration.

Regardless of the result of the wider discussion, I'm still planning
to change the default default from serif to sans.  While antialiasing
has improved matters, it's still the case that serifs on displays are
heavier, larger and/or more uneven than in print, so the usual rule
that text with serifs is easier to read is far from obviously true.
If you disagree with this plan please say so.

Ian.