Package: fontconfig-config Version: 2.4.2-1.2 Severity: normal The URW Nimbus fonts, in their original Postscript form, have major kerning issues which cause many letters to run together when hinting is enabled. I’m uncertain whether this is a bug in the fonts themselves or a problem in FreeType’s Type1 renderer that applies to all Type1 fonts, but it causes severe ugliness and difficulty of reading when browsing websites that use these fonts. The problem is greatly escalated by the fact that fontconfig-config aliases the standard names Helvetica, Times, and Courier to these fonts, but I have also seen misguided sites directly requesting Nimbus Sans L by name.
My understanding is that the FreeSans, FreeSerif, and FreeMono fonts are direct copies of the URW Nimbus fonts, converted to TrueType and then enhanced with much greater Unicode coverage and minor bugfixes. In this light, I believe: 1. (Hopefully uncontroversial) The aliases for Helvetica, Times, and Courier should use the Free* fonts and prefer them over the original URW fonts. 2. (Probably controversial; needs discussion) The default configuration for fontconfig should blacklist the URW Nimbus fonts and alias their names to the Free* family of fonts. If the Free* family really is a superset of the URW Nimbus fonts without the kerning bugs, then it does not make sense to use the old buggy versions of these fonts just because an application, document, or website was written with the old buggy fonts in mind. Alternatively, since the bug seems to be related to hinting, it may be reasonable to force autohint for these fonts rather than totally blacklisting them. The autohinter seems to fix the problem. Getting rid of the URW Nimbus fonts would go a long way towards improving the font quality issue as perceived by new users. I remember installing Debian on a computer for my mother about 4 or 5 years ago and having her comment right away that the fonts were ugly and illegible, and it was exactly this problem with the URW fonts that she was talking about. Now that I’m a Debian user again and finally spent the time to track this issue down I hope something can be done about it. If images depicting the problem are needed I can prepare them. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
