Linux and fonts

[Paul Lussier]

<rant mode=high>

Why must choosing fonts suck badly under all flavors of UNIX ?

Why isn't there a single, central libfont.so that can dynamically
determine what fonts are available on any given system that all apps
can be compiled against

Why must we waste time attempting to map names like "Times" something
mostly (if not entirely) meaningless like "-*-times-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*" ?

Why must applications like web browsers and office apps ship with
their own font libraries, and why can't I use *those* from other
applications?

Why, why, why, WHY!!!!????

For those who care whether or not Linux et al ever make inroads on the
desktop, (which I mostly don't), getting a decent font selection ought
to be on of those "basic first steps" before worrying about things
like office suites and mp3 players.

And please, no replies of the form, "Well, under (GNOME, KDE, other DTEs)
you just pull up some widget and select your font.  That is nothing
but a bandaid and some duct tape masking the problem. Bring up an
xterm (a *REAL* xterm, not a kterm, not gnome-terminal, etc.) and try
changing the font to something somewhat sanely named like "Times Roman".

</rant>

I got this rant from a co-worker last week.  Mostly, I don't care
much, but he made a lot of good points, that I figured I'd share :) It
also brought back memories of working with Derek and listening to him
complain about the sorry state of aesthetic eye-candy on Linux as he
spent a day or two per quarter trying to get his desktop "just right".

Granted, Derek is propably far pickier about his desktop aesthetics
than most people I know, but it also says a lot that someone as
learned and skilled as he must spend even *a day* on this type of
thing.

I've got about 30-40 lines in my ~/.Xdefaults file which do things
like choose colors and fonts for various applications.  Finding
documentation on *any* of those lines is virtually impossible, never
mind discovering what options are even available to set those
directives to!

And don't get me started on things like Firefox, which come with a
completely brain-dead default configuration, and almost no way to
easily change that behavior.  What neophyte is going have a clue about
punching in 'about:config' and then going about changing those options
which have no documentation indicating exactly what is being tweaked!

-- 
Seeya,
Paul
(who's really annoyed have not having a decent cup of coffee this morning!)