Inconsistent font rendering in GNOME and KDE


I’m running KDE on (K)Ubuntu Gutsy (7.10) and here’s the problem. I start KWrite and GEdit, and configure them to use the **exact same font**. However, the two applications render the same font very very differently. Check out these screenshots to see what I mean.

**KWrite with Inconsolata 11pt, 96 dpi**
{{http://floatingsun.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/screenshot11.png|KWrite Inconsolata 11pt}}

**GEdit with Inconsolata 11pt, 96 dpi**
{{http://floatingsun.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/screenshot12.png|GEdit Inconsolata 11pt}}

Dear lazy web, if any of you know how to get KDE and GNOME to render fonts in the same way, please let me know. I have made sure both KDE and GNOME are rendering fonts using the same DPI. I have tried with other fonts as well with similar results. I’ve always had issues with fonts rendering differently in GNOME and KDE, so this really isn’t a distribution specific problem.

**Update (11/01/07 2pm PST)**

Some useful links I discovered after writing this post:
* [[http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.kde.general/15660|font size, dpi and rendering in KDE and GNOME]]
* [[http://scanline.ca/dpi/|X Server DPI]]
* [[http://www.mozilla.org/unix/dpi.html|http://www.mozilla.org/unix/dpi.html]]

4 comments

  1. Abhijit Nadgouda

    Diwaker, can you check if the gtk-qt-engine is installed? Not sure if this will solve the font problem, but it did help me get a better unified experience.

    I have also enabled autohint for fonts. I am Arch Linux so did it by editing .fonts.conf, I think Kubuntu has a GUI for it.

    • Diwaker Gupta

      *@abhijit*: Yep, it’s installed. It certainly helps but there is still a marked difference in font rendering. I have auto hinting enabled as well, but it doesn’t help with font sizes.

    • Diwaker Gupta

      I don’t think so — pixel smoothing (or font hinting) only affects the rendering of the font on screen, specially anti-aliasic. But it doesn’t change the geometry or the DPI.

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