First look: new Ubuntu font boosts Linux typography • Hacker News Board

Re: First look: new Ubuntu font boosts Linux typography

#31

Post by joshfinnie » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 1:36 PM UTC

jdub wrote: post #15

noahlt wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with Linux typography isn't a lack of fonts, it's bad rendering. I can buy a font from Adobe. I can't buy a better font renderer for Linux.

... plus, the incredibly good Android "Droid" typeface is available under an open license and looks fantastic on mobile and desktop screens. So the new Ubuntu font certainly gives them/us something unique, but I'm not yet convinced that it gives them/us greater quality (I'm an Ubuntu member, and have tried this early release). Plus, you can install Droid on Ubuntu today: ttf-droid.

I did this for my new install of Ubuntu 10.04 and will never go back. I think Google took a lot of time to get that font right, and it looks great on my desktop.

Re: First look: new Ubuntu font boosts Linux typography

#32

Post by naner » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 1:45 PM UTC

macco wrote: post #23

naner wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The funny part is that all the pieces (FreeType, HarfBuzz, Pango) are really well done, just FreeType isn't tweaked properly. :/

What do you mean, with tweaked properly? Tweaked by developer oder user? BTW I think the droid fonts and dejaWeb look fucking awesome on my loptop. Much better than the fonts on my Windows maschine at work

Yeah, Windows XP's ClearType does things very badly. I was referring to this article that was posted in a different thread:

http://antigrain.com/research/font_rasterization/

Re: First look: new Ubuntu font boosts Linux typography

#33

Post by tvon » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 1:49 PM UTC

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #12

Great to see! Along the same lines, can anyone shed any light on why Gnome's settings for padding around UI elements is set to such a high value? (compare to OS X, which has very minimal padding around most UI elements).

I can't find the specific justifications but I believe it's all described in the GNOME HIG: http://library.gnome.org/devel/hig-book/

Not to say it's necessarily correct, but if you really want to dig into their reasoning, that's where it is.

Re: First look: new Ubuntu font boosts Linux typography

#34

Post by neves » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 1:55 PM UTC

nailer wrote: post #30

macco wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean, with tweaked properly? Tweaked by developer oder user? BTW I think the droid fonts and dejaWeb look fucking awesome on my loptop. Much better than the fonts on my Windows maschine at work

Tweaked by the packager, who thinks the hinting patents are still valid and hence disables decent hinting during compilation.

How do I configure it myself? Do you have a reference?

Re: First look: new Ubuntu font boosts Linux typography

#35

Post by nailer » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 2:00 PM UTC

neves wrote: post #34

nailer wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tweaked by the packager, who thinks the hinting patents are still valid and hence disables decent hinting during compilation.

How do I configure it myself? Do you have a reference?

Modify the Debian packaging files to provide the correct compilation options - sorry I'm not experienced with this as I've only made RPMs before =- but it should be pretty easy to figure out.

Re: First look: new Ubuntu font boosts Linux typography

#36

Post by snitko » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 2:03 PM UTC

When someone talks about Linux problems with fonts rendering now, I get really confused. I worked on Win/Mac/Linux (currently using Macbook and Ubuntu Desktop) and I have to say Linux has the best font rendering. Compare this:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/113891/pics/font_rendering_linux.png http://dl.dropbox.com/u/113891/pics/font_rendering_macosx.pn...

Re: First look: new Ubuntu font boosts Linux typography

#37

Post by snitko » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 2:04 PM UTC

snitko wrote: post #36

When someone talks about Linux problems with fonts rendering now, I get really confused. I worked on Win/Mac/Linux (currently using Macbook and Ubuntu Desktop) and I have to say Linux has the best font rendering. Compare this: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/113891/pics/font_rendering_linux.png http://dl.dropbox.com/u/113891/pics/font_rendering_macosx.pn...

With this new font, things look even more amazing. Great font.

Re: First look: new Ubuntu font boosts Linux typography

#38

Post by megaman821 » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 2:26 PM UTC

It is such a small thing, but the font rendering quality has always prevented me from enjoying Linux. I read so much while on the computer the horrible rendering and kerning just nag at me until I don't feel like reading anything else until I switch OS's.

Re: First look: new Ubuntu font boosts Linux typography

#39

Post by tptacek » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 2:47 PM UTC

The kerning on the 'i' is off (look at the 'B' 'i' pair), the upper 'I' is indistinct, the ascender on the lower 'l' is grotesquely higher than the cap height (look at 'P' 'l'), and the lower 't' and 's' look like the bastard children of Eurostile. I think it's a mess.

There's a reason everyone tweaks Bitstream Vera; it works. Novelty sans fonts aren't the reason Linux typography sucks.

Re: First look: new Ubuntu font boosts Linux typography

#40

Post by tptacek » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 2:48 PM UTC

naner wrote: post #17

dtf wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you say "bad rendering", do you mean glyph rendering (FreeType) or the layout stack?

It sounds like he is talking about rasterization which is handled by FreeType.

Kerning is a property of the font, not of the renderer.