change font

Forum: X and Fluxbox
Topic: change font
started by: mara

Posted by mara on Mar. 18 2005,10:20

How and where can I change the font used in X?
Id appreciate easy to follow instructions....when you just give me the name of a file and no path Ill probably need hours to find it...;)

thx,
Mara

Posted by mikshaw on Mar. 18 2005,13:04

Which font(s) do you want to change? Most are changed for individual programs, either in their configuration files, or through their preferences/options in the GUI, or in ~/.Xresources or ~/.Xdefaults.

Most fonts are found in /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts. Some may be in /usr/share/ghostscript/fonts or other text-related application directories. I'm not in DSL at the moment to verify, but the first path at least should be correct.

There is a tool called xfontsel which will give you a preview of all X fonts you have, including the full name of the font. Some fonts also have aliases so you can use a short name instead of using something like -*-lucida-*-r-*-sans-12-*-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1

Posted by cbagger01 on Mar. 18 2005,23:36

Here is some info on how to make the fonts larger for the Fluxbox menu system and also for the more commonly used applications. You should also be able to adjust the size and type in other ways if you are adventurous:

To make the fonts more readable in Emelfm, make sure that emelfm is not running and then edit this file:

/home/dsl/.emelfm/settings

and change the "120" into a "140" inside the lines that begin with:
LIST_FONT=
OUTPUT_FONT=

To make the fonts more readable in Beaver, make sure than beaver is not running and use a different editor like nano or vi to edit this file:
/home/dsl/.beaver/General

and change the "120" into a "140" inside the line that begins with:
Font =

Also, if you don't like the look of the bigger semicondensed font, you can change the word "semicondensed" into "normal" on the same font line where the "120" is located.

To make the system menus and window title fonts more readable in the Fluxbox window manager, open an xterminal and type:
cp /usr/share/fluxbox/styles/Simple /home/dsl/.fluxbox/styles/Simple-CUSTOM

Then edit the /home/dsl/.fluxbox/styles/Simple-CUSTOM file and change the "12" into a "14" inside the line that begins with:
*Font:

I haven't figured out the font adjustment in Firefox, but it can be adjusted with the mouse from the top menu while Firefox is running. There are two ways to adjust:
1) Choose View -> Increase Text Size

2) Choose Edit -> Preferences then "Fonts and Colors" and then bump the "Monospace" size up from 12 to 14. Also, change the "Minimum Font Size" from "None" to "14".

You can make the fonts more readable in Dillo (also displays the myDSL gui) by making sure that dillo is not running and then editing this file:
/home/dsl/.dillo/dillorc

and add a new line right after the:

fw_fontname=Courier

line. The new line should look like this:

font_factor=1.17

FYI, all of these font / resize changes should also be made to the same files that are located in /etc/skel which is used as the template to set up the "home" directory for any new user accounts.

Posted by mara on Mar. 21 2005,07:16

@mikehaw

I actually want to change the general font..just to see if the German umlaute will work with a different font. It would be unlogical imho, as they are working in some places but I cant think of anything else thats left to try.