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From: Ethan Carter <ec1828@somewhere.edu>
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
Subject: Re: Favorite Font
Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2025 10:45:20 -0300
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L Thorpe <lt666@sixsixsix.net> writes:

> This is not a frivolous issue.
>
> There are many fonts available on GNU/Linux but the only font
> that I continually select for all my GUI apps and even virtual
> terminals is the Liberation family:
>
> https://github.com/liberationfonts/liberation-fonts
>
> IMO, the Liberation fonts are the best and every other font
> seems quite ugly or unsatisfying in comparison.

I went to the page above with the hope of seeing an illustration of it.
One can see an example in 

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_fonts

(*) Fira Code

I use Fira Code on practically anything: xterm and GNU EMACS.  On the
web, I let whatever font the website chooses, but if it contains text
that I'd spend more than 20 seconds to read, then I invoke a Firefox
extension called ``print friendly'' which then formats the text with a
serif font that looks like ``Times New Roman'' with an appropriate size.
Then I print. :) So, yes, reading requires serif.  For screen display,
Fira Code.

> To me, this is unusual.  Why should one font family be so
> far ahead, aesthetically speaking?

That's a very interesting question.

By the way, Liberation does look pretty good in its serif version---if
there's any other.

> I am tempted to exclude all the dozens of GNU/Linux fonts
> except for Liberation.  Do you feel the same?

I feel the same.  Most fonts are just terrible.  For manipulating text
on the screen, we need a monospaced font, so, if that's not Liberation's
case, then it's out of the question.

I often render text on a PDF, in which case I seem to prefer Knuth's
font cmr---``computer modern roman''.  Why can't I accept the LaTeX
default---whatever it's called?  That's an open question to me.  It
feels to me that Knuth's designed cmr is a bit more imperfect than
LateX's default one.  It even seems to me that LaTeX's default is
actually cmr, but more perfected?  It seems to display a little lighter
on the screen and possibly on paper too.  I don't know.  Clearly, I'm no
expert at this, but I do have enough sensibility to detect what I like
and what I don't.  (Most people can't seem to care.)