Configuring Fonts - Novell LINUX ENTERPRISE DESKTOP 10 SP2 - DEPLOYMENT GUIDE 08-05-2008 Deployment Manual

10.4 Configuring Fonts

The GNOME Desktop uses the fontconfig font configuration and customization library.
The fontconfig library can use all kinds of fonts, including PostScript Type 1 fonts and
TrueType* fonts. The fontconfig library provides a list of all the fonts available on a
system. To compile this list, fontconfig searches the directories listed in the /etc/
fonts/fonts.conf file. To view all the fonts available on a system, access the
fonts:/// location in the file manager on the system.
For more information about the fontconfig library, see the Fontconfig [http://
freedesktop.org/software/fontconfig] Web site.
10.4.1 Font Substitution
The fontconfig library performs font substitution when entire fonts or individual char-
acters are not present. If the system needs to display a font that is not available, fontcon-
fig attempts to display another, similar font. For example, if a Web page requests to
display the Verdana font, and that font is not installed on the system, fontconfig displays
a similar font, such as Helvetica. The list of similar fonts is defined in the /etc/opt/
gnome/fonts/fonts.conf file.
If the system needs to display a character that is not present in the selected font, font-
config attempts to display the character in another, similar font. For example, you might
select Bitstream Vera Sans as the font for the Text Editor application. The Bitstream
Vera font family does not include Cyrillic characters. If you open a document which
contains a Cyrillic character, Text Editor uses a similar font that includes Cyrillic
characters to display the character.
The fontconfig library also defines aliases for fonts (for example, serif, sans-serif, and
monospace). When you select one of the aliases for a font, the system uses the first font
that is defined for that alias in the /etc/opt/gnome/fonts/fonts.conf.
10.4.2 Adding a Font for All Users
1 Copy the font file to one of the directories in the /etc/opt/gnome/fonts/
fonts.conf file.
GNOME Configuration for Administrators 263