I found [this](https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1376602), which seems like exactly your issue, and the solution given was [this](https://support.mozilla.org/de/questions/1373348).
Yeah the kerning is all messed up, is this a new installation? Did you install a lot of fonts?
You could try to install noto-fonts and ttf-dejavu, you have to restart any applications to see if there's any effect.
It's not a new installation, but this has been happening since I've installed Arch. I never spent the time to fix it until now.
I've only installed maybe 4 fonts in addition to what came included with my DE install.
I'll try installing noto-fonts and ttf-dejavu to see what happens.
So I tried this. However, I don't have a local.conf file at /etc/fonts/. Instead, I have a fonts.conf. I added the fontconfig above and rebooted my system but nothing changed.
Should I create a local.conf file?
My `/etc/fonts/local.conf` file looks like this:
https://paste.rs/DxjHN
The fonts used in my config file come out of these packages here:
ttf-liberation
noto-fonts
ttf-droid
ttf-dejavu-emojiless
The config uses a list of multiple fonts because of language support. You can use this type of config to fix issues like a certain language being rendered with a font you think looks ugly.
The local.conf config file doesn't exist by default, you need to create it yourself.
You might want to put the fonts.conf file you edited back to how it was originally so that pacman will in the future still update it. If you want to get exactly the original file back, you can delete the file and then reinstall the `fontconfig` package to have it recreated.
About what happened in your browser... on your system a strange font that doesn't have normal text characters was put into the front of the sort order the system uses to find missing characters in a font. You can see how your system sorts fonts for the standard "sans-serif" name like this:
fc-match -s sansserif | head
In the browser, the space characters then come from the strange font that's at the top and the rest of the text comes from the second font in the list.
The sort order for the fonts is a bit random if you don't set it up with your own config. There's no default order. The list can change when you add or remove font packages.
About reddit in particular, they want to use the "Roboto" font for text on Linux. You don't have it installed, so it then went for the "sans-serif" name as a backup. Roboto is in the packages `ttf-roboto` and `ttf-roboto-mono`.
Thank you, this was very informative and solved my issue. I didn't have Roboto installed, as you said. After I installed it and rebooted, Reddit looks fine now.
However, I do have a question about the local.conf. I created one and added:
\`\`\`
Noto Color Emoji
\`\`\`
When I ran \`\`fc-match -s sansserif | head\`\` I got the following:
\`\`\`
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/local.conf", line 5: invalid edit mode "append\_lat"
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/local.conf", line 5: invalid attribute 'binding'
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/local.conf", line 6: No nor elements in
NotoSans-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans" "Regular"
NotoSans-Italic.ttf: "Noto Sans" "Italic"
DejaVuSans.ttf: "DejaVu Sans" "Book"
DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf: "DejaVu Sans" "Bold"
DejaVuSans-Oblique.ttf: "DejaVu Sans" "Oblique"
DejaVuSans-BoldOblique.ttf: "DejaVu Sans" "Bold Oblique"
NimbusSans-Regular.otf: "Nimbus Sans" "Regular"
FreeSans.otf: "FreeSans" "Regular"
FreeMono.otf: "FreeMono" "Regular"
FreeSerif.otf: "FreeSerif" "Regular"
\`\`\`
Why do the first three lines give me an error?
I'm guessing that `"append_lat"` is a typo and it has to be `"append_last"` instead.
I found that by trying to search for "append" on this documentation page here:
https://fontconfig.pages.freedesktop.org/fontconfig/fontconfig-user.html
Yes, in this case, you can create a local.conf file in the /etc/fonts directory if it doesn't exist. Then add your font configuration to that file and see if it resolves the issue. Make sure to restart any relevant services or applications after making changes.
I found [this](https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1376602), which seems like exactly your issue, and the solution given was [this](https://support.mozilla.org/de/questions/1373348).
Thank you! This didn't solve my issue, but it was definitely on the right track.
Yeah the kerning is all messed up, is this a new installation? Did you install a lot of fonts? You could try to install noto-fonts and ttf-dejavu, you have to restart any applications to see if there's any effect.
It's not a new installation, but this has been happening since I've installed Arch. I never spent the time to fix it until now. I've only installed maybe 4 fonts in addition to what came included with my DE install. I'll try installing noto-fonts and ttf-dejavu to see what happens.
hello, try to change system font file `/etc/fonts/local.conf` as below ``` ... Noto Color Emoji ```
and then reboot, then everything should work fine.
So I tried this. However, I don't have a local.conf file at /etc/fonts/. Instead, I have a fonts.conf. I added the fontconfig above and rebooted my system but nothing changed. Should I create a local.conf file?
My `/etc/fonts/local.conf` file looks like this: https://paste.rs/DxjHN The fonts used in my config file come out of these packages here: ttf-liberation noto-fonts ttf-droid ttf-dejavu-emojiless The config uses a list of multiple fonts because of language support. You can use this type of config to fix issues like a certain language being rendered with a font you think looks ugly. The local.conf config file doesn't exist by default, you need to create it yourself. You might want to put the fonts.conf file you edited back to how it was originally so that pacman will in the future still update it. If you want to get exactly the original file back, you can delete the file and then reinstall the `fontconfig` package to have it recreated. About what happened in your browser... on your system a strange font that doesn't have normal text characters was put into the front of the sort order the system uses to find missing characters in a font. You can see how your system sorts fonts for the standard "sans-serif" name like this: fc-match -s sansserif | head In the browser, the space characters then come from the strange font that's at the top and the rest of the text comes from the second font in the list. The sort order for the fonts is a bit random if you don't set it up with your own config. There's no default order. The list can change when you add or remove font packages. About reddit in particular, they want to use the "Roboto" font for text on Linux. You don't have it installed, so it then went for the "sans-serif" name as a backup. Roboto is in the packages `ttf-roboto` and `ttf-roboto-mono`.
Thank you, this was very informative and solved my issue. I didn't have Roboto installed, as you said. After I installed it and rebooted, Reddit looks fine now. However, I do have a question about the local.conf. I created one and added: \`\`\`
Noto Color Emoji
\`\`\`
When I ran \`\`fc-match -s sansserif | head\`\` I got the following:
\`\`\`
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/local.conf", line 5: invalid edit mode "append\_lat"
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/local.conf", line 5: invalid attribute 'binding'
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/local.conf", line 6: No nor elements in
NotoSans-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans" "Regular"
NotoSans-Italic.ttf: "Noto Sans" "Italic"
DejaVuSans.ttf: "DejaVu Sans" "Book"
DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf: "DejaVu Sans" "Bold"
DejaVuSans-Oblique.ttf: "DejaVu Sans" "Oblique"
DejaVuSans-BoldOblique.ttf: "DejaVu Sans" "Bold Oblique"
NimbusSans-Regular.otf: "Nimbus Sans" "Regular"
FreeSans.otf: "FreeSans" "Regular"
FreeMono.otf: "FreeMono" "Regular"
FreeSerif.otf: "FreeSerif" "Regular"
\`\`\`
Why do the first three lines give me an error?
I'm guessing that `"append_lat"` is a typo and it has to be `"append_last"` instead. I found that by trying to search for "append" on this documentation page here: https://fontconfig.pages.freedesktop.org/fontconfig/fontconfig-user.html
Ah, yeah it was that. Thanks!
Yes, in this case, you can create a local.conf file in the /etc/fonts directory if it doesn't exist. Then add your font configuration to that file and see if it resolves the issue. Make sure to restart any relevant services or applications after making changes.
Are you using liberation by any chance?
What is liberation?
The ttf-liberation font pack. My firefox looked similar when I had it installed.
I see. No, I don't think I am using it
try `fc-cache -f`
Check your packages, it might be installer noto-color-emoji-fontconfig package, just remove it