GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 693057
implement options to change font and font size
Last modified: 2018-07-17 11:33:04 UTC
I found bug #658417 was filed about this issue almost half a year ago, but I'd like to bring it up again. Maybe the opinions of the designers have changed since then. For some things you can have sane defaults to please everybody and you don't need settings to change them. Hence, I'm not considering things like hinting settings and DPI which that bug mentions. All I'm concerned about is the font type and font size. I think individual user preferences are so varied that you can't please everyone with the same font face and size. One of the first things I always do after a new installation of GNOME 3 is install GNOME Tweak Tool to change the font settings. The default font size of 11 points is too big for me, so I always change it to 10. I also like the Droid fonts more than the defaults, Sans and Monospace, so I change the font family too. If the designers still haven't changed their mind about this, could they please explain why it is necessary to force users to download GNOME Tweak Tool if they want to change the font settings? There is no explanation given in bug #658417 other than that it's "part of the design".
Another argument I forgot to mention is that certain users might need to change fonts if they use "exotic" scripts. I'm not sure how extensive the Unicode coverage of the default "Cantarell", "Sans" and "Monospace" fonts is, but I do know that the Unicode coverage of the DejaVu font family is very complete compared to most other fonts [1]. This argument might of course not be relevant if the default fonts do have sufficient Unicode coverage. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DejaVu_fonts#Coverage
(In reply to comment #1) > Another argument I forgot to mention is that certain users might need to change > fonts if they use "exotic" scripts. fontconfig automatically falls back if the glyph isn't present in the requested font, as long as the configuration says so (which it should).
Any further thoughts on this bug? Not allowing users to change the basic system fonts is a bad design decision, and badly needs to be revisited. Yet this bug is languishing in obscurity, having had no activity in almost three years. I can understand leaving out options for hinting, etc., but there really does need to be a way for novice users to change their system fonts. And telling them "install gnome-tweak-tool" isn't an acceptable option, because then they'll be exposed to precisely the hinting, etc., options that would confuse them. Please bring the Font control back to gnome-control-center, with options to change font family and size. It doesn't need anything else, but it badly needs those two basic options.
Created attachment 331116 [details] two screenshots of interface size at 10 and 11 I posted something similar at cantarell-fonts but they suggested to report the bug-suggestion to gnome-control-center: What I try to explain is the font size at 11 for the interface that we can change in gnome-tweak-tool: is it possible to implement something to set the interface size automatically depending on the screen resolution? my portable computer has a resolution of 1366x768 and when the interface size is set to 11 some apps won't show all the contents window because the font is too big, I attached two screenshots, they are screenshots of the soundconverter application using interface size 10 and 11, at size 11 I can't see the close button on settings window because it's at the bottom of the window and it's hidden because of the font size but when I set it to 10 I can see the close button, there are other apps with the same issue, it's impossible to see some options because of the font size, but also I think it's something related to the design of that window, I think there are many people who should feel the same discomfort but don't know how to fix it or report it.
This is not a desired feature for GNOME Settings. If you want to tweak your font sizes, use GNOME Tweaks.