Ubuntu Font Hebrew Subset in the making - why not help out?

A Hebrew subset of the new Ubuntu font is in the making and scheduled to to be ready in time for Ubuntu 11.04 thanks to the initiative of Israeli web developer Tom Bigelajzen.

His enthusiasm for the community-derived project is infectious and no-one can deny that the the addition of greater language support is an valuable one for Ubuntu users of whatever language.

"A real OpenType font must be created and refined, people need to test it, to find where it breaks. And there are more variants - we have to do the Bold font, the Italic and Bold Italic, and by the time these will be finished there most likely be some Condensed variants too". Tom states on his blog, continuing "I need designers, typographers and testers to pitch in, we have a bit more than 6 months, it’s enough, but not a lot of time for a community project."

Interested? Were I familiar enough with Hebrew I know I would be!

Find out more information @ http://tombigel.com/2010/08/29/ubuntu-font-hebrew-subset-now-has-an-issue-on-launchpad/

Image, source | Tom Bigelajzan

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The new Ubuntu font - how to download it (but why you shouldn't)

Profuse apologies to the design team and let it be known on record that I hate having to post this but the cat, or in this case very pretty font, is very truly out of the bag and flaming up and down twitter. We'd be a fool to not mention it now since so many of you are 'tipping' us off about it and clearly already know about it.

The new Ubuntu font has been available to download for quite a while - providing you had enough wiles to know where and how to find it.

Eagle eyed readers have spotted it beautifying my desktop for the last month or so and it pained me so to not feel comfortable enough to share it with you sooner but there are caveats - and I implore you to pay attention to before you hit the juicy download button below.

The new font, developed as part of Ubuntu's re-branding is currently actively in development, with an eye to being used as the default system font in Ubuntu 10.10.

Why you shouldn't download the new font

1. The font has not been officially released.
2. The reason for 1) is because it is not ready.
3. This development version of the font does not have full language or full character support and is in NO WAY indicative of the inevitable high quality of the final version
4. This version was 'ripped' (like a cam-version of a movie) from promotional resources and is somewhat like a second-hand copy and as such the quality is not 100% crisp.
5. Do you really want to spoil the awesome surprise of logging into Maverick and seeing the actual version in it's beautiful glory?
6. Am I going over-board now?

Comprendez?

 

Thank ridhem on twitter for extracting, uploading and supplying the font

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Typography wallpaper creates a wallpaper using your installed fonts

Typography wallpaper is an awesome little script created by Dave Child that generates a wallpaper using your installed fonts - using a different font and character each time it is run.

Download

• First download the script from here (right click, save as)
• Now ensure you have PHP and ImageMagick installed

sudo apt-get install imagemagick php5

• Now rename the script extension to .php
• Move it to your Home folder

Before we run the script you need to tailor it. Make sure you pay attention to each section of the command highlighted below. Location

php fontpaper.php -i ~/wallpaper.jpg -s 1440x900 -l d0od -b 230417 -f ff9000

This is the path to where you want the wallpaper to be created. Make sure wherever you select is writeable. For ease of mind just your home folder. Size

php fontpaper.php -i ~/wallpaper.jpg -s 1440x900 -l d0od -b 230417 -f ff9000

This is the size the wallpaper - enter the dimensions fully. You can check your screen-size in System > Preferences > Monitors Characters to display/rotate through

php fontpaper.php -i ~/wallpaper.jpg -s 1440x900 -l d0od -b 230417 -f ff9000

In the example above I've entered the letter ö. You can enter as many letters as you like, all of which are case-specific, too. Note that only one will show at a time. Background colour

php fontpaper.php -i ~/wallpaper.jpg -s 1440x900 -l d0od -b 230417 -f ff9000

Enter the hexadecimal value of the background colour you'd like. There are many online tools for finding hex values such as html-color-codes.com The value in the example above is the new Ubuntu 10.04 purple colour. Foreground colour

php fontpaper.php -i ~/wallpaper.jpg -s 1440x900 -l d0od -b 230417 -f ff9000

This is the colour that the typography on your wallpaper will be written in, so choose something complimentary to the background colour. In the example above the foreground colour is the orange used on OMG! Ubuntu! Finish up Once you've tailored each part you can run the script as one command: -

php fontpaper.php -i ~/wallpaper.jpg -s 1440x900 -l d0od -b 230417 -f ff9000

The resulting image will be set as your wallpaper.

Set wallpaper to Auto-change

If you want the wallpaper to auto-change, setting a new wallpaper with a new character in a random font then you can set the script to run at set intervals though an application called GNOME-Schedule.

• sudo apt-get install gnome-schedule
• Start GNOME-Schedule
• Click 'new'
• Select 'recurrent' task type
• In the command field paste your custom command
• In the drop down box beneath the command field choose 'Suppress behaviour'
• Set a running interval
• Click 'add'.

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6 Desktop Fonts to try in Ubuntu

A fresh install of Ubuntu yields one annoyance that seems to irritate most people: the default ‘Sans’ font is set at a gigantic 10px.

The effect of having the font so large is evident from the outset – menus appear never-ending, dialogue windows seem disproportioned and the entire feel given off is that of a toy.

Setting the default font to 8px takes up notably less room and gives a more pleasing visual look to the menus.

 

Here’s stock Firefox with with ascending fonts sizes. Notice how much more room Firefox has with 8px – practical for netbook users, no?

 

Alternatives

The default font itself isn’t the prettiest so earlier today I tweeted to OMG! Ubuntu! twitter followers, asking what they use. Below are some of your awesome suggestions!

FreeSans Medium @ 8px

The font I usually set as default is FreeSans Medium. It’s crisp, readable and above all else looks nice!

• Pre-installed in Ubuntu

FreqMod Clear @ 9px

I don’t know too much about this font other than it is very round and very ‘informal’ looking. If you want some personality on your desktop give this a shot.

 

• Download @ http://www.gnome-look.org/content/show.php/FreqMod+Clear&Artistic?content=39223

Sans Uralic @ 8px

This font is an ‘Helvetica-like sans serif typeface’ and, as you can tell by the name, is intended for use for with ‘Uralic  languages with Russian based writing systems’. Now I’m not Russian but this font looks very, very nice in English too. 

• sudo apt-get install ttf-uralic

Ubuntu Titling @ 8px

An enhanced version of the now superseded Ubuntu font created by Christian Robertson of BetaType. The fonts come with capital letters (the official version of the font is all lowercase) and alternate characters.

If you really love Ubuntu using this font will complete that Ubuntu feel.

• Download @ http://betatype.com/node/36

Droid Sans @ 8px

A font commission by Google for their Android operating system, Droid  is primarily designed for use with smaller screened and mobile devices. Nevertheless it looks beautiful used as a system font. The fonts are free to use and licensed under the Apache license.

• sudo apt-get install ttf-droid

Aurulant Sans @ 8px

A humanist sans serif font specifically designed for use with user interfaces. It’s extremely pleasant to look at and has since become my new default font!

Download @ http://www.dafont.com/aurulent-sans.font

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Karmic Allows One Click Installation Of New Fonts

Installing fonts in Ubuntu Karmic has been made so super easy you might just die of "about-time" shock. It’s all thanks to Gnome 2.28 that Karmic comes packed with.

Double-clicking on font gives you this: -

I've added some arrows to point out the super easy new install button, which you just click to install that font.

F i n a l l y !

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Easily Install Fonts In Ubuntu With FontMatrix

Font Matrix allows for easy installation and management of fonts on Ubuntu and other Linux distributions.

FontMatrix can manage fonts already installed system-wide or on individual user accounts.

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Quickly Install Google Android Fonts

Google’s Linux based Mobile Operating System ‘Android’ (Gee, try saying all that with a mouthful of doughnut!) comes with some very sexy fonts called ‘Droid’. The fonts are crisp, clear and far nicer looking/easier to read than Ubuntu’s default set and make a great addition to your likely limited font collection (Installing fonts in Ubuntu is way more complex than it should be, but that’s finally being addressed elsewhere.) The Android fonts are free to use so why not install them?

If you’re in Jaunty then it’s a simple matter of heading to a terminal and punching in: -

sudo apt-get install ttf-droid

Firefox users can click -> apt:ttf-droid

If you’re in Intrepid then just grab the .deb from here and double click to install!

Once you’ve gotten your lovely new fonts you might want to use them. don’t know how? Here’s how to set droid as your system font.

Head into System->Preferences->Appearance and select the ‘fonts’ tab. From there you just click on the font name of the section you wish to change, scroll down to ‘droid sans’ or whichever ‘droid’ font you wish to use, select it and press Okay.

For ‘Fixed Width Monospace’ you should select the ‘Droid-Monospace’ font.

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Quickly Install Google Android Fonts

Google’s Linux based Mobile Operating System ‘Android’ (Gee, try saying all that with a mouthful of doughnut!) comes with some very sexy fonts called ‘Droid’. The fonts are crisp, clear and far nicer looking/easier to read than Ubuntu’s default set and make a great addition to your likely limited font collection (Installing fonts in Ubuntu is way more complex than it should be)

The Android fonts are free to use so why not install them?

if you’re in Jaunty then it’s a simple matter of heading to a terminal and punching

sudo apt-get install ttf-droid

in.

If you’re in Intrepid then just grab the .deb from here and double click to install!

Once you’ve gotten your lovely new fonts you might want to use them. don’t know how? Here’s how to set droid as your system font.

Head into System->Preferences->Appearance and select the ‘fonts’ tab. From there you just click on the font name of the section you wish to change, scroll down to ‘droid sans’ or whichever ‘droid’ font you wish to use, select it and press Okay.

For ‘Fixed Width Monospace’ you should select the ‘Droid-Monospace’ font.

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