wine font changes system look and feel

[Felix Miata]

On 2012/06/04 16:56 (GMT+0200) Andreas Bierfert composed:

> I guess we can agree that the technical part of font installation etc.
> is done like it should be. However, it is _not_ the wine-tahoma-fonts
> package which bullies its way and changes the system look and fell on
> its own. There are some web-pages which (maybe unintentionally)

Intentionally in most cases, because it's widespread, and often copied, but 
also quite naively. Those who specify Tahoma as a fallback for Verdana really 
don't understand what they are doing. Virtually no Windows systems with 
Tahoma installed will not also have Verdana installed. For that to happen 
someone would need to remove Verdana. Both are part of the Windows OS 
installation, but not part of a Wine installation. Web pages will always show 
Verdana on Windows, but on Fedora system with Wine, nothing makes it likely 
that either Verdana or Tahoma will be used. Wine-Tahoma is very clearly not 
Tahoma.

> explicitly request a tahoma font and if you have wine installed - beware
> - they get what they request.

No they don't, unless the same ttf files are installed on those Wine systems 
as are installed on Windows systems.

> You argue they do so as a fallback which under 'normal' circumstances
> should never be used. My question would then be why we do reach this
> point in the first place. Maybe that is a starting point where we can
> improve.

It happens because:

1-Microsoft's TTF fonts are not in the browser's font path

2-a poor imitation of Tahoma named Tahoma is in the browser's font path

3-Clueless web authors include Tahoma as a fallback to Verdana, which is not 
part of a standard Wine install, while the Tahoma impostor is

> As a packager I, however, find it important that for the
> use-case of wine the best available user experience is provided. Hence
> this font needs to be included an pulled in by wine like it is today.

The second best possible experience can only result if Microsoft's Tahoma 
font is in the font path. The best would be for Tahoma not to exist at all, 
and something else be provided by fontconfig when it is requested. Tahoma is 
a horizontally squished variant of the ugly Verdana, designed for maximum 
legibility at small sizes, and out of place in any other context.

> Now the question remains if there is action needed on this issue. As I
> understand that some users do not like the wine tahoma font, the package
> as been adopted to disable bitmaps by default and instructions have been
> added on how to disable the font.

Unless Microsoft's Tahoma can be installed as a part of Wine installation, 
the Wine installation needs somehow to strongly suggest that Microsoft's 
Tahoma become installed, and note the auto-installed impostor's limitations.
-- 
"The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant
words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation)

  Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!

Felix Miata  ***  http://fm.no-ip.com/