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

Delete current content (if any) and paste in it:

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

Save changes in 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.

Support

Following is a link to this page's forum counterpart where you can post any related feedback: [1]

Feedback about StealthPenguin's post about installing Ubuntu/Infinality fonts can be made at his forum post [2].

Credit goes to FadeMind for his forum tutorial [3], and to the Arch Wiki's FontConfig Example [4]

See Also

The Arch Wiki