Ugly Fonts in KDE

LRE · March 28, 2011, 9:50am

Hi,

I’m running openSUSE 11.4 in KDE and Gnome.
To me it looks like Gnome has more or less correct font rendering. At least for what I can see the fonts look good.

The problem is in KDE, I tried about every tutorial I could find to make the fonts look good but still it’s not like it is shown in Windows. In windows the fonts are crystal clear and sharp. In KDE it looks like I’m working on a prehistoric system.

Why do the fonts look really impressive during the installation of opensuse in Yast and ugly after the installation?

Is there a way to make the font rendering in KDE look like Windows 7 or Vista?

stamostolias · March 28, 2011, 9:58am

Hello First let’s face the fonts’ problem.
Open your start menu–>system settings–>System management–>Fonts installator.
Here you can install fonts ok???

Second

Is there a way to make the font rendering in KDE look like Windows 7 or Vista?

You can go to system settings–>application appearance and you can download everything about the style.

consused · March 28, 2011, 11:34am

I agree that the default 11.4 Gnome desktop fonts appear to be very clear. However, the default fonts in Firefox and SeaMonkey on Gnome are awful! Whereas on KDE desktop the default fonts are not quite as clear, but they are clear enough (good but not excellent). At least KDE have managed to to provide a uniform standard on their desktop, including those two browsers. Of course that is only my experience here, screens and display resolutions vary by user.

Why do the fonts look really impressive during the installation of opensuse in Yast and ugly after the installation?

I guess the installation fonts are purpose-built and not TT fonts rendered by the DE.

Is there a way to make the font rendering in KDE look like Windows 7 or Vista?

If you search the forum, you will find many threads about font rendering in openSUSE and linux generally. Some of them will answer your questions and explain the legalities.

mieszkaniec_lasu · March 28, 2011, 11:37am

If you follow my step by step guide, you’ll get lovely fonts for sure:

openSUSE starter: Step 4. Get yer subpixel hinted fonts.

I just love this rendering. There’s an instruction for Firefox as well. You can apply it to Seamonkey too.

consused · March 28, 2011, 11:52am

Thanks for the guide. I recognize your work from another thread. I will get round to trying it out.

mieszkaniec_lasu · March 28, 2011, 1:35pm

Thanks, you can post your comments there, in that thread. Have a lot of fun!

LRE · March 29, 2011, 12:28pm

Whoohooow… that’s what I’m talking about.
I followed your guide and now the fonts in KDE look really good and so is Firefox.
You made my day

Thanks!

udaman · March 29, 2011, 11:10pm

Very nice rendering, and great instructions. The result is worth the little time it takes to run thru the steps. I also made similar changes in Thunderbird, and the result is much nicer than before. Thanks!

nano76 · May 31, 2011, 5:15pm

So, It’s needed to configure the font settings per-application? :-S
In Windows or even in GNOME (Ubuntu) there’s just one place to configure font appearance that is used system-wide…

martin_helm · May 31, 2011, 5:42pm

nano76 wrote:

>
> So, It’s needed to configure the font settings per-application? :-S
> In Windows or even in GNOME (Ubuntu) there’s just one place to
> configure font appearance that is used system-wide…
>
You do that also in KDE for the system (including gtk applications), but for
example thunderbird and other applications like firefox are not KDE and have
their own settings which overwrite the general settings.