Hi All, TLDR Version; - I suggest we set the default fonts in openSUSE to the Source Sans/Serif/Code family from Adobe. Long Version/Explantion; One of the most common complaints we receive from users of openSUSE is 'poor font rendering' I've thoroughly investigated this over the last months, and while there are a number of things we could do with regards to our font rendering libraries and such, these settings (eg. subpixel hinting) are often a case of 'personal taste' and the display in use (LCD, TFT, CRT, and what resolution) However, while investigating this, I ran into a few interesting observations. The font rendering in GNOME is perceived by myself and everyone I asked as 'better' than in KDE. Investigating this further, it seems this is almost entirely due to GNOME's use of Cantarell as it's default font, ignoring the system fontconfig Microsoft TTF fonts are often the cause for many peoples perceptions of 'bad font rendering'. This is because our current font config often favours the Microsoft fonts if they're installed. This has sent me down a deep rabbit hole of exploration, looking for font families which in my opinion are suitable to be a new default for openSUSE. I've wanted to find fonts that are totally practical, not compromising things like readability and size, while looking contemporary and good even when advanced font rendering options are not enabled NOTE: I'm talking about setting the Default font for applications and desktop environments to this family. So applications like Firefox, Gedit, Terminals, etc will use these fonts when they ask for the systems default Monospace, Serif, or Sans font. When it comes to the use of Fonts in Documents, they'll use whatever Fonts the document asks for, of course. So this change should have no concern with people wanting to use Microsoft fonts inside their Libreoffice documents for example. This pretty much has led me to a shortlist of 4 font families Liberation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_fonts DejaVu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DejaVu_fonts Droid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droid_fonts Source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_Sans_Pro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_Code_Pro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_Serif_Pro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_Han_Sans I would not recommend Liberation as a default - as it's metrically identical to the Microsoft fonts they share many of the same 'ugliness' issues, and are generally old, tired, and work best on old screens instead of modern LCD's DejaVu's fonts were a strong contender, however I personally do not like the look of them as much compared to the Source Family of fonts. Also, they do not have a consistent 'feel' across their various Sans/Monospace/Serif types, which leads to openSUSE looking rather disjointed and messy if you set it up to use DejaVu fonts by default Droid fonts would be my second choice, and shares many of the good things I'm about to say about the Source family, however it's Mono font is not nearly as pretty as Source Code Pro, so on those grounds alone, I don't want to see it as the default So, why the Source Family? 1. It's designed by Adobe, and they know a thing or two about fonts 2. The fonts are all open source (SIL Open Font License) 3. Wide language support 4. All designed to be used in *User Interfaces* which, is what we're talking about using it for here 5. Much of the Source family is already used by openSUSE in our official branding ( https://opensuse.github.io/branding-guidelines/ ) and having the user interface reflect that will be a subtle way to subliminally imprint a consistent image of openSUSE on our users 6. The fonts all look great in every situation I've tested them in. They do not require any fancy settings like Subpixel hinting to look excellent 7. Modern, Contemporary looking. 8. Source Code Pro, the monospaced font, is very popular with everyone I know who's asked it 9. I've been testing it as my personal default for over 6 months and had no problems. If there are any objections to this proposal, please speak up with your reasons below. Otherwise Petr has already offered to do the work to make this happen Regards, Richard -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-factory+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse-factory+owner@opensuse.org