Improve Font Rendering

How to improve font rendering with your installed fonts

A little configuration maybe required to render the fonts in an optimal manner. Follow the steps illustrated below.

1. Create the file /etc/fonts/local.conf

sudo nano /etc/fonts/local.conf

Paste the following content in the file-

<match target="font">
  <edit name="autohint" mode="assign">
    <bool>true</bool>
  </edit>
  <edit name="hinting" mode="assign">
    <bool>true</bool>
  </edit>
  <edit mode="assign" name="hintstyle">
    <const>hintslight</const>
  </edit>
  <edit mode="assign" name="lcdfilter">
   <const>lcddefault</const>
 </edit>
</match>

After that save the file.

2. Create backup of ~/.Xresources file:

cp ~/.Xresources ~/.Xresources.bak

If the .Xresources file has not been already created and you get the error -

"cp: cannot stat ‘~/.Xresources’: No such file or directory", then skip to step No. 3.

3. Open/Create ~/.Xresources file in text editor:

nano ~/.Xresources

If the following is not already present, paste at the end of the file or edit existing values:

Xft.dpi: 96
Xft.antialias: true
Xft.hinting: true
Xft.rgba: rgb
Xft.autohint: false
Xft.hintstyle: hintslight
Xft.lcdfilter: lcddefault

Save changes to the file.

4.Run the following command in terminal:

xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources

5.Make sure that Anti aliasing is On, and Hiting is set to Slight in System Settings (Appearence).

Finally reboot your computer to apply the settings.

See Also

The Arch Wiki