Fontconfig - Apr 2007 - Changing the default sans font - only for a certain language

Hi there,

Is it possible to configure fontconfig to prefer one font for a certain
language, and another font for a second language?

For example, I''d like to use the DejaVu Sans font as my primary English
sans-serif font, and Arial as my Hebrew sans-serif font. When a control
needs to display English & Hebrew text, I want it to display the English
part using DejaVu and the Hebrew part using Arial.

How should I configure my local.conf file for this situation?

Thanks in advance,
Tomer
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Le jeudi 19 avril 2007 ? 15:02 +0300, Tomer Haimovich a ?crit
:
> Hi there,
> 
> Is it possible to configure fontconfig to prefer one font for a
> certain language, and another font for a second language?
There have been attempts to add this to fontconfig
http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/fontconfig/2006-June/002332.html

To my knowledge so far they haven''t succeeded. I won''t try to
paraphrase
the arguments against as I don''t believe in them and would only make a
mockery of them.

Regards,

-- 
Nicolas Mailhot
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That''s a bit sad. I am an Ubuntu user who recently upgraded to version
7.04.
After the upgrade, my Hebrew fonts were changed to something barely
readable. The English fonts however, are still the same.

Having a way to define Arial as my primary Hebrew font, yet preserving
DejaVu Sans as my primary English font, would simply save me from becoming
insane. Instead, I''ve been reading fontconfig and pango and whatever
not man
pages, trying to figure out what has changed and why.


2007/4/19, Nicolas Mailhot
<nicolas.mailhot@gmail.com>:
>
> Le jeudi 19 avril 2007 ? 15:02 +0300, Tomer Haimovich a ?crit :
> > Hi there,
> >
> > Is it possible to configure fontconfig to prefer one font for a
> > certain language, and another font for a second language?
>
> There have been attempts to add this to fontconfig
> http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/fontconfig/2006-June/002332.html
>
> To my knowledge so far they haven''t succeeded. I won''t
try to paraphrase
> the arguments against as I don''t believe in them and would only
make a
> mockery of them.
>
> Regards,
>
> --
> Nicolas Mailhot
>
>
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Le jeudi 19 avril 2007 ? 23:04 +0300, Tomer Haimovich a ?crit
:
> That''s a bit sad. I am an Ubuntu user who recently upgraded to
version
> 7.04. After the upgrade, my Hebrew fonts were changed to something
> barely readable. The English fonts however, are still the same.
> 
> Having a way to define Arial as my primary Hebrew font, yet preserving
> DejaVu Sans as my primary English font, would simply save me from
> becoming insane. Instead, I''ve been reading fontconfig and pango
and
> whatever not man pages, trying to figure out what has changed and
> why. 
BTW we''ve had very positive feedback on the DejaVu Hebrew glyphs so
far.
So maybe Ubuntu is doing something that breaks them. Or maybe you''re
just not used to them (seems that the first reaction to a font style you
never encountered is always negative?). Anyway if you have specific
complaints about DejaVu Hebrew don''t hesitate to report them on
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=DejaVu ,
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/dejavu-fonts or #dejavu.

There is still room to get fixes in before next release. Especially is
the bug report is detailed?. 

? cf the numerous "Arial is abismal, no way people will accept it
instead of Helvetica" rants when Arial was first introduced in Windows

? Unless your problem is just the font is different from Arial ? DejaVu
never pretended to be an Arial clone, and it''s not there to replicate
it.
-- 
Nicolas Mailhot
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How can I check whether its an Ubuntu specific problem or a font problem?

I don''t mind getting used to new fonts, its just that currently.. Well,
it''s
really ugly. :)
I also don''t mind whether its the same as Arial - I just find Arial
more
readable than the current Hebrew fonts.

2007/4/19, Nicolas Mailhot
<nicolas.mailhot@gmail.com>:
>
> Le jeudi 19 avril 2007 ? 23:04 +0300, Tomer Haimovich a ?crit :
> > That''s a bit sad. I am an Ubuntu user who recently upgraded
to version
> > 7.04. After the upgrade, my Hebrew fonts were changed to something
> > barely readable. The English fonts however, are still the same.
> >
> > Having a way to define Arial as my primary Hebrew font, yet preserving
> > DejaVu Sans as my primary English font, would simply save me from
> > becoming insane. Instead, I''ve been reading fontconfig and
pango and
> > whatever not man pages, trying to figure out what has changed and
> > why.
>
> BTW we''ve had very positive feedback on the DejaVu Hebrew glyphs
so far.
> So maybe Ubuntu is doing something that breaks them. Or maybe
you''re
> just not used to them (seems that the first reaction to a font style you
> never encountered is always negative?). Anyway if you have specific
> complaints about DejaVu Hebrew don''t hesitate to report them on
> https://bugs.freedesktop.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=DejaVu ,
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/dejavu-fonts or #dejavu.
>
> There is still room to get fixes in before next release. Especially is
> the bug report is detailed?.
>
> ? cf the numerous "Arial is abismal, no way people will accept it
> instead of Helvetica" rants when Arial was first introduced in Windows
>
> ? Unless your problem is just the font is different from Arial ? DejaVu
> never pretended to be an Arial clone, and it''s not there to
replicate
> it.
> --
> Nicolas Mailhot
>
>
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