Differences

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--- font [2015/05/28 13:47]
slackermedia
+++ font [2021/06/03 19:48] (current)
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-Chapter 1. Fonts
-Table of Contents
-Installing Fonts
+======Fonts======
-    Manually Installing Fonts as User
+Fonts are vital to creativity and good design. Slackware comes packaged with a respectable variety of fonts, including the Red Hat set of ''Liberation'' Fonts to act as drop-in replacements for fonts like Helvetica and Times, which are useful but a little bland. There are a number of sources for more fanciful free fonts available; all you have to do is find them, and then install them.
-    Manually Installing Fonts for All Users
-    Installing Fonts via KDE
-Font Previews
+Where can you find free fonts? Glad you asked.
-Font Management
-    Tagging Fonts with Font Matrix
+=====SlackBuilds.org=====
-    Activating and Deactivating Fonts
-    Integrating Font Matrix
-Fonts are vital to creativity and good design, plus they look pretty. Slackware
+First, look on [[http://slackbuilds.org]]. Do a search for "font" and you will find a
-comes packaged with the Red Hat set of Liberation Fonts, which are drop-in
+number of installable packages of free fonts, including the Ubuntu set, Droid from the Android project, Courier Prime, and some others. These are nice and complete fonts; not
-replacements for fonts like Helvetica and Times, which is useful but a little
-bland. There are a number of sources for more fanciful free fonts available;
-all you have to do is install them.
-First, look on Slackbuilds.org. Do a search for "font" and you will find a
-number of installable packages of free fonts, including the Ubuntu set, Droid
-sans, Courier Prime, and some others. These are nice and complete fonts, not
 the most exciting, but they do at least deviate a little from the 5 or 6 core
 font faces that we are all used to.
-Next, the League of Moveable Type features open source, glyph complete, free
+=====League of Moveable Type=====
-fonts. Most of the fonts here are quite pleasant to look at, and sleek enough
-to be identified as artistic but still maintain a professional veneer.
+Next, [[https://www.theleagueofmoveabletype.com|the League of Moveable Type]] features open source, glyph complete, free fonts. Most of the fonts here are quite pleasant to look at, and sleek enough to be identified as artistic but still maintain a professional veneer.
+=====Fedora Linux=====
 You will also find quite a few font packages available from the Fedora Linux
 repositories. Fedora has long been considered to have on of the finest graphic
-design teams of all Linux distributions, and also dedicated to freely licensed
+design teams (lead by designer [[http://blog.linuxgrrl.com|Maírín Duffy]]) of any Linux distributions, and also dedicated to freely licensed content, so pillaging their repositories for ''.rpm'' files is useful. With ''rpm2tgz'', it's easy to do; take any ''.rpm'' from an official Fedora repository and turn it into a Slackware package and then use ''installpkg'' to install.
-content, so pillaging their repositories for .rpm files is useful. With rpm2tgz
-it's easy to do; take any .rpm from an official Fedora repository and turn it
-into a Slackware package and then use installpkg to install.
-  # rpm2tgz ttf-foo-font-1.0.rpm
+The official Fedora package index is located at [[http://pkgs.fedoraproject.org/repo/pkgs/]]. Search for "font" and see what's available.
-    # installpkg ttf-foo-font-1.0.t?z
-If it's quantity and variety that you seek, the Great Linux Multimedia Sprints
+<code>
-feature over 2455 free fonts to use and re-distribute. Some of these fonts are
+# rpm2tgz ttf-foo-font-1.0.rpm
-not entirely glyph-complete, so you may not want to use them as your system
+# installpkg ttf-foo-font-1.0.t?z
-font, but for artistic use this is a must-have collection. The sprint
+</code>
-collections contain all the kinds of fonts you would expect from a major
-purchase, including gothic, script, calligraphy, distorted, graffiti, and so
-on. All are royalty-free and most are very creative.
-Last but not least, you can use any font you already own. There is nothing
+=====Multimedia Sprints=====
-prohibitng you from installing your existing collection (or fonts you find on
-the internet) of ttf and otf fonts.
-Installing Fonts
+If it's quantity and variety that you seek, the [[http://slackermedia.info/sprints|Great Linux Multimedia Sprints]] feature over 2455 free fonts to use and re-distribute. Some of these fonts are not entirely glyph-complete, so you may not want to use them as your system font, but for artistic use this is a must-have collection. The sprint collections contain all the kinds of fonts you would expect from a major purchase, including gothic, script, calligraphy, distorted, graffiti, and so on. All are royalty-free and most are very creative.
+=====Your Personal Collection=====
+Last but not least, you can use any font you already own. There is nothing prohibiting you from installing your existing collection (or fonts you find on the internet) of ''ttf'' and ''otf'' fonts.
+=====Installing Fonts=====
 Generally speaking, there are two different philosophies on installing fonts:
-. Install fonts on a systemwide basis so that all users of a computer has
+  -Install fonts on a systemwide basis so that all users of a computer has access to them
-    access to them
+  -Install fonts on a per-user basis
-. Install fonts on a per-user basis
+Traditionally, installing fonts systemwide made most sense: it was economical on disk space and it made sure all users had access to the same fonts for design work. This is still true if you actually manage a multi-user system but if you are an independent artist with no other users to consider, the multi-user aspect is unimportant. In fact, there is a distinct advantage to installing fonts on a per-user basis in such a case, since it makes keeping track of those fonts and porting them or syncing them over to another computer a lot easier.
-Traditionally, installing fonts systemwide made most sense. It was economical
-on disk space and made sure all users had access to the same fonts for design
-work. This is still true if you actually manage a multi-user system but if you
-are an independent artist with no other users to consider, the multi-user
-aspect is unimportant. In fact, there is a distinct advantage to installing
-fonts on a per-user basis, since it makes keeping track of those fonts and
-porting them or syncing them over to another computer a lot easier.
-Manually Installing Fonts as User
+====Manually Installing Fonts as User====
-To install fonts into a user's home folder, place a font file into a directory
+To install fonts into a user's home folder, place a font file into a directory (it may or may not yet exist) ''~/.local/share/fonts''.
-(it may or may not yet exist) ~/.fonts.
 Traditionally, you would also run this command:
+<code>
 $ fc-cache -f
+</code>
 Although in practise, most modern GUI applications auto-detect new fonts when
@@ Line 84: / Line 64: @@
 not strictly necessary for most things you will be doing with fonts.
-{{ fontinstall.jpg }}
+To install a font that has been packaged up by someone else (from Fedora or Slackbuilds.org, for instance) then the package's default behaviour will be to install the font to the system. To override that behaviour, treat the package as exactly what it is: a tarball (archive). Instead of installing the package, just un-tar it and move the ttf or otf files to your personal fonts folder. You can do this in the GUI or in the shell.
-To install a font that has been packaged up by someone else (from Fedora or
+Since the ''~/.local/share/fonts'' directory is hidden, it can be difficult to access from Dolphin. There are several ways to access a hidden directory from Dolphin but the easiest is to press ''alt .'' (that's the ''Alt'' key and a dot) to reveal all hidden folders, and then navigate to ''~/.local/share/fonts''.
-Slackbuilds.org, for instance) then the package's default behaviour will be to
-install the font to the system. To override that behaviour, treat the package
-as exactly what it is: a tarball (archive). Instead of installing the package,
-just un-tar it and move the ttf or otf files to your .fonts folder. You can do
-this in the GUI or in the shell.
-Since the .fonts is a hidden directory, it can be difficult to access from
+In the shell, you can extract just the ''ttf'' files and move them to the appropriate font directory:
-Dolphin. There are several ways to access a hidden directory from Dolphin but
-the easiest is to press alt . (that's the Alt key and a dot) to reveal all
-hidden folders, and then navigate to .fonts.
-In the shell, you can extract just the ttf files and move them to the
+<code>
-appropriate font directory:
+$ tar tvf ttf-foo-font-1.0.tgz | egrep .tf$ | rev | cut -f -d' ' | rev
-  $ tar tvf ttf-foo-font-1.0.tgz | egrep .tf$ | rev | cut -f -d' ' | rev
+ttf-foo-font-1.0
+ttf-foo-font-1.0/README
+ttf-foo-font-1.0/LICENSE
+ttf-foo-font-1.0/otf
+ttf-foo-font-1.0/otf/foo.otf
+ttf-foo-font-1.0/otf/foo bold.otf
+ttf-foo-font-1.0/ttf
+ttf-foo-font-1.0/ttf/foo bold.ttf
+ttf-foo-font-1.0/ttf/foo.ttf
-    ttf-foo-font-1.0
+$ tar xf ttf*foo*tgz foo.ttf > ~/.local/share/fonts/f/foo.ttf
-    ttf-foo-font-1.0/README
+$ tar xf ttf*foo*tgz foo\ bold.ttf > ~/.local/share/fonts/f/foo_bold.ttf
-    ttf-foo-font-1.0/LICENSE
+</code>
-    ttf-foo-font-1.0/otf
-    ttf-foo-font-1.0/otf/foo.otf
-    ttf-foo-font-1.0/otf/foo bold.otf
-    ttf-foo-font-1.0/ttf
-    ttf-foo-font-1.0/ttf/foo bold.ttf
-    ttf-foo-font-1.0/ttf/foo.ttf
-  $ tar xf ttf*foo*tgz foo.ttf > ~/.fonts/f/foo.ttf
+The advantage to this is that ''~/.local/share/fonts'' is located in your home directory, which is, presumably, the directory you most often backup, and it is certainly the
-    $ tar xf ttf*foo*tgz foo\ bold.ttf > ~/.fonts/f/foo_bold.ttf
-The advantage to this is that .fonts is located in your home directory, which
-is, presumably, the directory you most often backup, and it is certainly the
 directory you will take with you if you get a new computer. In both cases, your
 font collection is sure to go with you.
+<WRAP important>
 You can take your fonts with you if you install them to the system, too, but in
 that case you do have to remember to take them, since they don't just get
 pulled along with the rest of your personal data. It's not impossible, it just
 has the potential of being forgotten.
+</WRAP>
-Manually Installing Fonts for All Users
+====Manually Installing Fonts for All Users====
-To install fonts on a system-wide basis, the font files should be copied to /
+To install fonts on a system-wide basis, the font files should be copied to ''/usr/share/fonts/foo'' where ''foo'' is the type of font (usually ''TTF'' or ''OTF'').
-usr/share/fonts/foo where foo is the type of font )usually TTF or OTF. Since it
-affects all users on the system, it must be done as root or with reoot
-privileges:
+Since this affects all users on the system, it must be done as root or with reboot privileges:
+<code>
 $ su -c 'cp foo.ttf /usr/share/fonts/TTF/'
 $ cd /usr/share/fonts/TTF
@@ Line 140: / Line 112: @@
 # mkfontdir .
 # /usr/bin/fc-cache -f
+</code>
-Installing Fonts via KDE
+====Installing Fonts via KDE====
-If you are running KDE, you may use KDE's Font Viewer (which automatically
+If you are running KDE, you may use KDE's ''Font Viewer'' (which automatically
-launches when you click a font file in Dolphin). Font Viewer shows a preview of
+launches when you click a font file in ''Dolphin''). Font Viewer shows a preview of
-all the glyphs in the font set and even allows you to enter your own preview
+all the glyphs in the font set and even allows you to enter your own preview text.
-text. To install the font, click the Install button in the lower right corner
+{{ fontinstall.jpg }}
+ To install the font, click the ''Install'' button in the lower right corner
 of the window. Enter the root password to install the font system-wide, or
 choose to install it for only the current user.
-Font Previews
-Font files by default have a unified, generic icon. To instead set the cion to
+=====Font Previews=====
-a two-letter sample of what the font looks like:
-. Click the Configure (a gear or a spanner, depending on your icon theme),
+Font files by default have a unified, generic icon. To instead set the icon to
-    and selecte Configure Dolphin.
+a two-letter sample of what the font looks like:
-. Click the General tab in the left column.
+  -Click the Configure (a gear or a spanner, depending on your icon theme), and selecte Configure Dolphin.
+  -Click the General tab in the left column.
+  -Click the Preview tab.
+  -Activate previews for font files in the Preview list and click OK.
-. Click the Preview tab.
+=====Font Management=====
-. Activate previews for font files in the Preview list and click OK.
-Font Management
 Most applications scan the font directories every time they launch, so keeping
 hundreds of fonts in your font directory may make applications slow to load. It
-may, therefore, behoove you to familiarize yourself with the fonts you own, and
+may, therefore, behoove you to familiarise yourself with the fonts you own, and
 only install fonts you actually want on your system.
-Font Matrix, a font manager for your Desktop
+Of course with 2455+ fonts available on your system, familiarising yourself
+with all of your possible fonts is a tall order. There are two popular font managers for Linux:
+**KDE Font Management**
+<WRAP indent>
+KDE includes. along with its desktop and rich set of applications. an inbuilt **Font Management**. With it, you can group fonts together by arbitrary classifications, and activate or deactivate fonts either individually or by group, so that applications either load or ignore them upon launch.
 {{ fontmanage.jpg }}
+</WRAP>
+**Font Matrix**
-Of course with 2455+ fonts available on your system, familiarizing yourself
+<WRAP indent>
-with your fonts is a tall order. Font Matrix is a font browser and font manager
+Font Matrix is stand-alone font manager available from [[http://slackbuilds.org]], that lets you preview your fonts, tag and classify fonts, search through them by various attributes (including by submitting a screenshot sample of a font you want to match), and activate or de-activate fonts so that applications will either load or ignore them upon
-available from slackbuilds.org, that lets you preview your fonts, tag and
-classify fonts, search through them by various attributes including by
-submitting a screenshot sample of a font you want to match, and activate or
-de-activate fonts so that applications will either load or ignore them upon
 launch.
-Tagging Fonts with Font Matrix
+{{ fontmatrix.jpg }}
+</WRAP>
-  * To tag fonts with custom identifiers, first select the font or fonts you
+====Tagging Fonts====
-    want to tag in the Browse Font panel.
-  * With the font or fonts selected, click the Tags tab on the lower left of
+To tag fonts with custom identifiers in **Font Matrix**:
-    the Browse Font panel.
-  * Type a new tag into the text field and click the Add Tag button.
+  -Select the font or fonts you want to tag in the Browse Font panel.
+  -With the font or fonts selected, click the Tags tab on the lower left of the Browse Font panel.
+  -Type a new tag into the text field and click the Add Tag button.
-You can now filter all fonts on your computer with these tags by selecting a
+You can now filter all fonts on your computer with these tags by selecting a tag in the Tags menu (by default set to All activated) at the top of the Browse Fonts panel.
-tag in the Tags menu (by default set to All activated) at the top of the Browse
-Fonts panel.
-Activating and Deactivating Fonts
+You cannot tag fonts in KDE **Font Management** but you can group fonts in collections in the left column. To add a new font group, click the green plus ''+'' button in the bottom left of the **Font Management** window.
-Deactivate a font by toggling the tick mark in the check block next to the
-font's name.
+====Activating and Deactivating Fonts====
 Deactivating a font or a group of fonts prevents the applications you launch
@@ Line 206: / Line 183: @@
 the launch time of applications like GIMP, Scribus, Inkscape, and so on.
-Integrating Font Matrix
+In **Font Matrix**, deactivate or activate a font by toggling the tick mark in the box next to the font's name.
+In **Font Management**, deactivate or activate a font by right-clicking the font name or the font collection and selecting **Disable** or **Enable**.
-Font Matrix only dictates whether a font is active or not while it runs. If you
-are a graphic artist, you will probably want Font Matrix to idle in the
-background as part of your OS.
-. Click on the Edit menu > Preferences.
+====Integrating Font Managers====
-. Select System Tray from the left column of the Preferences window.
+The KDE **Font Management** application is integrated into the rest of your applications through KDE; it's always on and ready to activate or deactivate fonts at your command. If you are a frequent user of **Font Management** because you frequently swap out what fonts are set to be available in different applications, then you may want to make **Font Management** easily accessible to you by adding it to the **Favourites** of the K-Menu or creating a launcher for it in a desktop panel.
-. Place a tick mark in the Show Font Matrix in the System Tray check box to
+Because it is not an inbuilt component of your desktop, **Font Matrix** only dictates whether a font is active or not //while it runs//. If you are a graphic artist, you probably want Font Matrix to idle in the background as, essentially, an active part of your workspace:
-    give Font Matrix the ability to be put into the background as it runs.
-. Place a tick mark in the Close to System Tray check box to prevent yourself
+  -Click on the **Edit menu > Preferences**.
-    from accidentally quitting Font Matrix. Optionally, have Font Matrix start
+  -Select System Tray from the left column of the **Preferences** window.
-    as a System Tray item; you'll still be able to click the System Tray icon
+  -Place a tick mark in the **Show Font Matrix in the System Tray** check box to give Font Matrix the ability to be put into the background as it runs.
-    to bring up the full GUI.
+  -Place a tick mark in the **Close to System Tray** check box to prevent yourself from accidentally quitting Font Matrix. Optionally, have Font Matrix start as a System Tray item; you'll still be able to click the System Tray icon to bring up the full GUI.
+  -In KDE, once you've launched Font Matrix as a System Tray icon, it will launch the next time KDE is restarted. If you have customized Session settings, you can force Font Matrix to start upon KDE startup by placing a shell script in ''~/.kde/Autostart'' or by opening System Settings and selecting **Startup** and **Shutdown**; add Font Matrix to the Autostart group.
-. In KDE, once you've launched Font Matrix as a System Tray icon, it will
-    launch the next time KDE is restarted. If you have customized Session
-    settings, you can force Font Matrix to start upon KDE startup by placing a
-    shell script in ~/.kde/Autostart or by opening System Settings and
-    selecting Startup and Shutdown; add Font Matrix to the Autostart group.
+<WRAP centeralign>
+<wrap fa>[[path|R]]</wrap> <wrap fa>[[start|S]]</wrap> <wrap fa>[[sox|Q]]</wrap>
+</WRAP>