Package: i3 Version: 4.16-1 Followup-For: Bug #918925 Actually, removing the 'pango:' string from the font option is just causing it to fall back to the fixed-width X core font.
I tried using a handful of other fonts, such as: font pango:Bistream Vera Sans Mono 8 And it turns out that the title and status bar text are missing for *any* pango font option. I looked through ~/.xsession-errors and I did not see any font-related errors. [libi3] ../../i3-wm-4.16/libi3/font.c Using Pango font monospace, size 8 01/18/19 14:13:30 - dpi.c:init_dpi:41 - Resource Xft.dpi not specified, skipping. 01/18/19 14:13:30 - dpi.c:init_dpi:64 - Using fallback for calculating DPI. 01/18/19 14:13:30 - dpi.c:init_dpi:66 - Using dpi = 96 01/18/19 14:13:30 - main.c:main:561 - root_depth = 32, visual_id = 0x00000077. 01/18/19 14:13:30 - main.c:main:563 - root_screen->height_in_pixels = 1080, root_screen->height_in_millimeters = 285 01/18/19 14:13:30 - main.c:main:564 - One logical pixel corresponds to 1 physical pixels on this display.