https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=507697
Bug ID: 507697
Summary: Font preview does not work well in a non-English
environment
Classification: Applications
Product: systemsettings
Version First 6.3.5
Reported In:
Platform: Arch Linux
OS: Linux
Status: REPORTED
Severity: normal
Priority: NOR
Component: kcm_fontinst
Assignee: [email protected]
Reporter: [email protected]
Target Milestone: ---
Created attachment 183678
--> https://bugs.kde.org/attachment.cgi?id=183678&action=edit
Bad font preview
SUMMARY
Font preview does not work well in a non-English environment. Depending on the
font, some characters may be rendered as tofu. Additionally, the default
preview text is associated with the system language, not the language(s)
supported by the font. See "ADDITIONAL INFORMATION" for details.
STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Switch your system language to a non-English one (e.g. Simplified Chinese)
2. Go to "Font Management" module in System Settings
3. Select a font and observe the font preview
OBSERVED RESULT
Depending on the font, some characters may be rendered as tofu. See the
attachment.
EXPECTED RESULT
There should be no character rendered as tofu ideally.
SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Operating System: Arch Linux
KDE Plasma Version: 6.3.5
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.14.0
Qt Version: 6.9.1
Kernel Version: 6.15.1-arch1-2 (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
(For some reasons, I haven't updated my system for a while, but this bug should
persist in newer versions.)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Take the attached image (Fira Sans) for an example.
Firstly, there are two blocks of tofu after the font name. It should be "常规",
which means "Regular". By the way, according the source code at
https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-workspace/-/blob/master/kcms/kfontinst/apps/Printer.cpp
, the font name should be typeset with the 12pt "sans" font in boldface.
However, it is actually typeset in regular weight. Maybe it should be
"sans-serif" instead of "sans"?
CJK users usually use complex fallback mechanisms for CJK text display. For
example, in my fontconfig configuration, "sans-serif" is an alias for the list
[Noto Sans, Noto Color Emoji, Noto Sans Symbols, Noto Sans Symbols 2, Noto Sans
Math, Noto Music] at first. After that, I add some language test and append
Noto Sans CJK SC/TC/HK/JP/KR accordingly. I'm not sure whether the font preview
can handle such a complex case.
Secondly, there are some blocks of tofu after "The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over
The Lazy Dog". It should be "龙跳天门，虎卧凰阁", which is the default preview text for
Chinese. Since Fira Sans does not contain any CJK characters, those are
rendered as tofu naturally.
However, that indicates a problem in the current font preview mechanism. The
default preview text is associated with the system language, not the
language(s) supported by the font. As a result, the preview text for a English
font becomes tofu in a Chinese environment, and the default preview text in an
English environment is meaningless for a Chinese font.
In summary, I would highly appreciate it if the problems mentioned above could
be fixed. It is a crucial step for multilingual support that will benefit all
non-English users.
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