Re: Bitmap fonts

[Sad Clouds <cryintothebluesky%gmail.com@localhost>]

On Sat, 18 Aug 2018 06:59:35 +0000
coypu%sdf.org@localhost wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> Helvetica is a proprietary font. There is a bitmap-only Helvetica in
> base. In an attempt to avoid this font, and under the impression
> bitmap fonts are guaranteed to look bad by design, I made fc-match no
> longer match bitmap fonts:
> https://v4.freshbsd.org/commit/netbsd/src/N7XSt9wHfjaVH75A
> 
> This is not very visible because netbsd-8 and older versions use
> pkgsrc fontconfig a lot with its own configuration.
> 
> I came across a post suggesting that the dislike of bitmap fonts isn't
> universal:
> "More "modern" Chinese users prefer sans-serif fonts over the bitmap
> Chinese font (65% based on a survey at Ubuntu Chinese forum, N>300),
> while some other users prefer bitmaps."*
> 
> Has this been a problem for anyone, but it was unclear what is the
> change causing it?
> 
> * https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=20911

I don't quite understand what problem you're trying to describe here.
Are you talking about font formats - Bitmap vs TrueType, or font
families - Helvetica vs Sans-Serif.

Personally, I tend to much prefer bitmap fonts, rather than
something like Vector or TrueType fonts that use Bézier curves. I find
bitmap fonts a their native resolution very sharp and crisp, where
TrueType fonts can look smudged and blurry.