[xubuntu-users] My Xfce fonts looks bad

[rl.ward at bigpond.com]

---- Tong Sun <xubuys.xpt at spamgourmet.com> wrote: 
> Thanks Rob.
> 
> On Sun, Dec 7, 2014 at 7:25 PM, rl.ward at bigpond.com wrote:
> 
> > The fonts that look bad in your first two examples appear to be from the days of bitmap fonts rather than the scalable outline fonts we expect today.  Can you try other fonts (that you are confident have good definition files) on the file manager and terminal? eg the same one as used in the x-term session?
> 
> I believe it is just the contrary. My xterm should be using bitmap
> fonts, while the other two use true-type fonts. The true-type fonts
> are known to have problem when rendering fonts less than 12~14 size.
> People who say their font settings look nice normally have their font
> sizes  above 12 or even 14. My xterm font size is only about 8.
> 
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Hi,
I have taken the liberty of adding an attachment of my Arduino interface for you to consider.  I always use it with the IDE config file altered to make it anti-alias the Ubuntu Mono font I prefer.  For this example I have deliberately reduced the font size to 9 (and you are right I normally work in size 14).  I then took a screen shot of the area and loaded it into the Gimp and viewed it a 400%.  I then re-sampled the screen and this this the image that I have attached.

I think the 9 point is being rendered fairly well.  To test it, stand about 5 steps away from the screen and see if you still find it readable.  The anti-aliasing appears appropriate to me for such a small point size.

To wander slightly off topic I would love to know how to make the font above, that reads "Sketch_dec08a", use a proper anti-aliased font as well.  The next two fonts above both use anti-aliased fonts and appear very readable on my screen.  I think that bit-mapped style font is buried somewhere in the Java interface and I have not been able to find where I can alter it (probably not possible, but 'help!' all the same).

Simpler font rendering systems also fall foul of different screen resolutions when a particular font's resolution does not fall easily into the screen's resolution.  Changing screen dimensions in pixels can cause these effects. eg fitting an 8 bit bit-map into a 7 pixel space.

I hope these techniques and ideas may help you analyse what is going on.  My brother's answer to all of this would be to boast about his 5k imac screen! Ho hum!!! ok For some!!!

Cheers, Rob
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