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Sharp Fonts On A KDE Desktop

Tuesday, 15 May 2007

Updates: Added GTK font tweak 6/11/2007

Since there is already a guide to Sharp Fonts On A GNOME Desktop, I thought I would adapt it a bit for KDE (thanks goes to the author, as I have used some of his content here). This guide leans towards Kubuntu, as that is my distro of choice. This guide also tells how to get Swiftfox or Firefox to work with the ClearType fonts, which is something people have been trying to do for some time. Here we go!

How it will look when we're done (click to enlarge):

I have tested this on Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn), but this should work for any KDE desktop.

1. Get the Microsoft Fonts
If you have a Windows partition on your machine, or have a Windows machine you own, you may install the fonts by opening the systemsettings tool, going to the apperance section, and selecting the fonts installer. Then, click the add fonts button and navigate to the location of the Windows fonts (copy them from your other machine if Windows isn't on your Linux box) and select them all, hit enter, and you are done. As a side note, if you would like to install more fonts, you can download Automatix and use it to install the Microsoft core fonts (among other programs you may want).

2.Set up 96 DPI Fonts in X

First we must configure X to use 96 dpi by modifying /etc/X11/xorg.conf. Open a terminal and run

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.bak
sudo kate /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Search for the monitor section (Section "Monitor"). Put the following lines at the end of that section:

#    DisplaySize    270    203    # 1024x768 96dpi
#    DisplaySize    338    254    # 1280x960 96dpi
#    DisplaySize    338    270    # 1280x1024 96dpi
#    DisplaySize    370    277    # 1400x1050 96dpi
#    DisplaySize    423    370    # 1600x1400 96dpi

If you have another screen resolution than the ones listed above, please add a line for your resolution. You can calculate the DisplaySize like this:

displaysize = (<pixelsize>/96)*25.4

Then uncomment the line that suits your screen resolution. If you have a resolution of 1024x768 pixels, the monitor section should look like this in the end:

[...]
Section "Monitor"
        Identifier        "Generic Monitor"
        Option                "DPMS"
        HorizSync        28-51
        VertRefresh        43-60
         DisplaySize    270    203    # 1024x768 96dpi
#       DisplaySize    338    254    # 1280x960 96dpi
#       DisplaySize    338    270    # 1280x1024 96dpi
#       DisplaySize    370    277    # 1400x1050 96dpi
#       DisplaySize    423    370    # 1600x1400 96dpi
EndSection
[...]

Save the conf file, and reboot:

sudo shutdown -r now

After the system has come up again, open a terminal again and run the following commands:

xdpyinfo | grep dimensions

The output should display the correct screen resolution, like this:

matt@matt-desktop:~$ xdpyinfo | grep dimensions
dimensions: 1024x768 pixels (271x203 millimeters)

xdpyinfo | grep resolution

This should show that X is now using 96 dpi:

matt@matt-desktop:~$ xdpyinfo | grep resolution
resolution: 96x96 dots per inch

Now we need to make sure that 96 DPI is enabled in KDE. Go back to the systemsettings tool, the Appearance Section, then select Fonts. Check the "Force fonts DPI" box and select 96 DPI in the dropdown.

3. Tell KDE Which Fonts to Use
All we have to do in the systemsettings tool now is to go to the Appearance section, and select Fonts. Choose the fonts that look the best to you. Personally, I have found that the following configuration works the best for me (click to enlarge):

Make sure that under the GTK Styles and Fonts area that you have "Use my KDE style in GTK Applications" box checked!

4. Swiftfox/Firefox
It takes a couple of extra things to get Swiftfox and/or Firefox to display fonts correctly. Open either of them up (depending on which one you use) and type about:config in the address bar. Then in the filter box, type "font.FreeType" and toggle the following to true (right click on entry->toggle):

font.FreeType2.autohinted
font.FreeType2.enable
font.FreeType2.printing
leave font.FreeType2.unhinted as true, otherwise your fonts on the Swiftfox toolbar won't look right.

These all should be true. Now, go to Edit->Preferences and click the content button. Select your default font (I use Tahoma) and the default size. Then, click advanced and set those settings to your heart's desires as well. Make sure the box next to "Allow Pages to Choose their Own Fonts" is checked, as well. Restart the browser, and everything should be readable.

5. Some GTK Apps
For some GTK apps, it is possible to make the fonts look nice. For example, without the next tweak, Automatix's fonts would look like garbage. Open a terminal and type "sudo vim ~/.gtkrc.mine" then hit the "I" key. Copy and paste the below text into the terminal:

style "user-font"
{
fontset="-microsoft-tahoma-medium-r-normal-*-10-&#-*-p-&#"
}
widget_class "*" style "user-font"

Then, hit the "Esc" key, and type :wq (colon "w" "q"), and hit enter. All done!

That's it! Again, I would like to thank the author of the GNOME guide, as I wouldn't have been able to figure this out without his instructions. You may repost this guide as long as you provide a link back to this page.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."