I’m not satisfied with the fonts in my KDE Tumbleweed installation. The standard fonts are very “lightish” They lack “body” Does anybody has tips on how to get nicer fonts in i.e. firefox, the terminal (konsole). Informational links are also very welcome. I guess I’m spoiled by distros like Fedora Gnome and Manjaro. I like Tumbleweed. KDE runs very well.
Thanks in advance for any help.
You can install additional fonts (use Yast Software Management and search for “font”). And most applications allow you to configure which fonts to use.
This really has to do with personal taste. I’m okay with the defaults.
Desktop settings > appearance > fonts > anti-aliasing > configure > hinting style is likely where you want to make your first change.
You probably want to enable subpixel rendering. This thread might be helpful.
https://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php/534047-Broken-fonts?p=2887822#post2887822
Thanks for the link, but this was the first thing I did before asking the question 
Yes, I know it’s a matter of personal taste. The fonts rendering with anti aliasing is fine. It’s the fonts themselves I don’t really like. That is why I asked if anybody had tips. It’s also a KDE thing, because the fonts in Gnome always look better (I know, it’s personal).
If you already have a folder of favorite/most used TrueType/OpenType fonts on other machines, just use a file manager with root privileges and throw them into /usr/share/fonts/truetype/.
Logout+Login if your new fonts aren’t selectable right away.
I’ve experimented a bit with prepackacked, freely available fonts; currently installed:
▶ rpm -qa | grep -i font
google-noto-fonts-doc-20170919-lp150.2.1.noarch
efont-unicode-bitmap-fonts-0.4.2-lp150.1.7.noarch
hack-fonts-3.003-lp150.1.1.noarch
gnu-unifont-bitmap-fonts-10.0.07-lp150.1.1.noarch
google-droid-fonts-20121204-lp150.1.7.noarch
dejavu-fonts-2.37-lp150.1.8.noarch
liberation-fonts-1.07.4-lp150.2.1.noarch
adobe-sourcecodepro-fonts-2.030-lp150.1.8.noarch
intlfonts-euro-bitmap-fonts-1.2.1-lp150.1.7.noarch
ghostscript-fonts-other-9.06-lp150.4.3.noarch
stix-fonts-1.1.0-lp150.1.4.noarch
adobe-sourceserifpro-fonts-2.000-lp150.1.1.noarch
noto-coloremoji-fonts-20170919-lp150.2.1.noarch
noto-sans-fonts-20170919-lp150.2.1.noarch
adobe-sourcesanspro-fonts-2.020-lp150.1.4.noarch
cantarell-fonts-0.0.25-lp150.1.8.noarch
ghostscript-fonts-std-9.06-lp150.4.3.noarch
noto-emoji-fonts-20170919-lp150.2.1.noarch
google-carlito-fonts-1.1.03.beta1-lp150.1.7.noarch
google-roboto-fonts-20161103.2.135-lp150.1.8.noarch
xorg-x11-fonts-core-7.6-lp150.2.1.noarch
Yet, after every fresh install of openSUSE, I found myself using the fonts I’ve had on my Macs all along, including the Google and Microsoft web/core fonts. (Some other TTFs go as far back into the 1990s, I remember using them with my Atari ST with NVDI and Magic!/MagicMac.)
Most of the time I am using Helvetica Neue for just about everything in my GUI, and Menlo for uniproportional work (console work, coding, viewing source code and logs):
▶ l /usr/share/fonts/truetype/Menlo*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2144600 2017-08-04 20:22 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/Menlo.ttc
▶ l /usr/share/fonts/truetype/Helv*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 503224 2017-08-04 20:22 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic.otf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 465728 2017-08-04 20:22 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/HelveticaNeue-Bold.otf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 159164 2017-08-04 20:22 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/HelveticaNeue-CondensedBlack.otf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 157224 2017-08-04 20:22 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/HelveticaNeue-CondensedBold.otf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 499644 2017-08-04 20:22 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/HelveticaNeue-Italic.otf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 214364 2017-08-04 20:22 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/HelveticaNeue-LightItalic.otf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 213140 2017-08-04 20:22 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/HelveticaNeue-Light.otf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 154608 2017-08-04 20:22 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/HelveticaNeue-MediumItalic.otf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 189164 2017-08-04 20:22 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/HelveticaNeue-Medium.otf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 460500 2017-08-04 20:22 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/HelveticaNeue.otf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 174504 2017-08-04 20:22 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/HelveticaNeue-ThinItalic.otf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 201632 2017-08-04 20:22 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/HelveticaNeue-Thin.otf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 220132 2017-08-04 20:22 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/HelveticaNeue-UltraLightItalic.otf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 214380 2017-08-04 20:22 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/HelveticaNeue-UltraLight.otf
I’ve also used the *Infinality *packages for a long time, but this seems to be no longer necessary as the newest FreeType packages seem to have subpixel-hinting activated; they also seem to be able to render Fonts a bit bolder and more rounded, as they would appear on paper or in macOS, not meager/craggly/anemic like Microsoft’s ClearType (subjective and a matter of taste, I know).
My test case for fonts is always how my main web browser *SeaMonkey *looks:
http://susepaste.org/images/73689995.png
[HR][/HR]
The font in the address bar is Menlo Bold 12pt, as specified in ~/.mozilla/seamonkey/m4f9qm8p.default/chrome/userChrome.css:
@namespace url("http://www.mozilla.org/keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul");
#urlbar {
height: 24px !important;
margin: 0 !important;
padding: 0 !important;
font-family: Menlo !important;
font-size: 12pt !important;
font-weight: bold !important;
}
Nice to be able to have everything exactly to one’s liking. Cheers!
Thanks for the help and advice. I will take some time to play with different fonts. Everything is configurable in KDE, so I’m sure it will work out fine
Long time openSUSE+KDE user here. I booted Ubuntu a few weeks back and opened Gnome-Terminal. First thing I said was, that’s a nice terminal font! It was easier to read than my kde konsole, I felt like.
terpentijn, if you will, I’d like your opinion on how your fonts on TW compare to fonts on one of my 15.0 installations. Here is the URL I made the screenshot from:
http://fm.no-ip.com/Auth/Font/fonts-face-samplesM.html
The original 2360k png image:
http://fm.no-ip.com/SS/Fnt/font-samplesM-px-4480-108.png
An 860k jpg made from the png using convert with 30% quality:
http://fm.no-ip.com/SS/Fnt/font-samplesM-px-4480-108.jpg
From where I sit, font quality using openSUSE of all the font families that I find “acceptable” are always good, as long as they are big enough, and the display’s dot pitch is tight enough. Examples of those I don’t find acceptable include Verdana, Courier, and most of the demi weight and obese fonts that have become common favorites of web stylists with little or no understanding of legibility or the informational purposes of the web.
I tried to PM or email this to you, but my PMs from here are being blocked, and I had no luck finding an email address.
Sorry. I was away for a long time. I just saw your message today. I will look at the links. If you want to email me, you can do so. dick@dickbosman.com
I myself are still experimenting with the fonts I like. My terminal is OK now, but I’m noot happy with the KDE/GTK fonts. Extra problem is that not all fonts need the same subpixel hinting. Take care. I like KDE. It will turn out OK. Maybe we can exchange our results?
Here’s the setup I’ve been using for about 4 year now.
I like Menlo for xterm and the URL bar, Helvetica Neue for everything else. No hinting or autohinting.
Using SeaMonkey for webby things, xterm+vim+ruby for virtually all other tasks.
Occasionally I start up Steam for gaming and LibreOffice for the boring stuff. 
Plasma’s task bar with application menu and system tray auto-hides. No shadows, no effects.
The contents of my /etc/fonts/local.conf (and essentially ~/.config/fontconfig/fonts.conf too):
<?xml version="3.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd">
<!-- /etc/fonts/local.conf file for local customizations -->
<fontconfig>
<match target="font">
<edit name="lcdfilter" mode="assign">
<const>lcddefault</const>
</edit>
</match>
<match target="font">
<edit name="autohint" mode="assign">
<bool>false</bool>
</edit>
</match>
<match target="pattern">
<edit name="dpi" mode="assign">
<double>96</double>
</edit>
</match>
<match target="font">
<edit name="rgba" mode="assign">
<const>rgb</const>
</edit>
</match>
<match target="font">
<edit name="hinting" mode="assign">
<bool>false</bool>
</edit>
</match>
<match target="font">
<edit name="hintstyle" mode="assign">
<const>hintnone</const>
</edit>
</match>
<match target="font">
<edit name="antialias" mode="assign">
<bool>true</bool>
</edit>
</match>
</fontconfig>
Works for me. Cheers!