All About Fonts on Linux

Over the last few years, design trends have centered around typography. If you use Pinterest, you must have seen inspiration boards with typographic art, various logotypes, infographics and text-only images. However, you don't have to be a professional designer to appreciate and use different fonts. Maybe you just like to get creative when editing your photos, or want to change the look of your desktop environment. Previously you learned to manage ISO files on Linux, and today we'll show you how to do the same with fonts - from finding, installing and organizing them to even creating your own fonts. 

Image credit: Twinkl

Fonts in Theory

Before we start working with fonts, it's important to note that the terms font and typeface are often used interchangeably, although they do not mean the same. What we usually call fonts are actually typefaces. For example, Verdana or Cantarell are typefaces; that is, specific letter designs. On the other hand, Verdana Bold is a font – in computer terms, a file, or a “mechanism” that allows users to use that particular style of characters on their screen. Most people don't know the difference and use the word “font” in both cases, which is fine in everyday communication, but in some contexts it's better to use the terms properly.

When it comes to technical details, there are three main font types: bitmap, outline and stroke-based fonts. Bitmap or raster fonts store elements of each character as images, which makes them easier to create than other font types. They render quickly, but their visual quality decreases when they're scaled or transformed.

Outline or vector fonts use lines and curves to define the elements that make up characters. They can be easily scaled and transformed without quality loss, but it may require more computer processing power than for bitmap fonts. Stroke-based fonts are primarily used for East Asian languages. They are easier to edit than outline fonts, and provide practical solutions for scaling and defining character elements.

The most popular file formats for fonts are TrueType (you'll recognize them by the file extension .ttf) PostScript Type (.pfb, .pfm, .pfa, .afm ) and OpenType (.otf). They differ in technical specifications and typographic flexibility, but also in the license requirements.  To enable support for closed-source formats like TrueType and OpenType on Linux, a font engine called FreeType has been developed, and today it comes by default with most Linux distributions.

Where to Find New Fonts?

When you install a Linux distribution, a lot of fonts will be preinstalled with it. However, Microsoft TrueType fonts like Times New Roman, Arial and the infamous Comic Sans won't be among them. To install them, search for a software package called ttf-mscorefonts-installer (on Debian, Ubuntu and derivatives), ttf-ms-fonts (on Arch) or simply look for “microsoft fonts” in your package manager.

To find new fonts, you don't have to look much further than the aforementioned package manager. Searching for “fonts” will bring up a number of packages containing different fonts which you can install as any other package. The downside of this method is that you can't preview the fonts before installing them, nor can you choose them based on the way they look.

Luckily, there are dozens of web pages where you can preview and download fonts for free. FontPark has a great collection with many categories to make searching easier. Most fonts are free for personal use, and new fonts are added almost every day. DaFont is probably the most popular resource for free fonts. It's fast, responsive and allows you to submit your own fonts. You can also check out FontSpace and FontSquirrel if you need even more fonts.

How to Install Fonts on Linux?

First of all, make sure to download font formats that are supported on Linux (TrueType and OpenType are the most popular and can be installed on Linux). If you're the only user of the computer, you can simply copy or move the font file(s) into your /home/username/.fonts folder. If the folder does not exist, create it (it has to be a hidden folder, which is why you have to call it .fonts).

If you want your new fonts to be available to all users, perform a system-wide installation. This is done by copying the font files into the /usr/share/fonts folder (you'll need root permissions to do this). This folder might have several subfolders (like /truetype and /opentype) so you can copy the fonts into them according to their type.

Some applications require that you specify which folder they should look into when searching for fonts. This option is usually found in the application's Preferences dialog. If all your fonts are in /home/username/.fonts, just enter this path; the application will now automatically recognize your fonts.

If you don't like this approach, you can install fonts through a specialized application. Select the font file which you want to install and the application takes care of the rest. Here are some applications for you to try out.

Font Management Software for Linux

There aren't many font management tools for Linux, but those that exist are very powerful. If you're looking for the simplest solutions, Gnome Specimen or Gnome Font Viewer are perfect for you.

Image credit: berangerGnome Specimen lists installed fonts and enables you to preview and compare them.

Image credit: iloveubuntu

You can use Gnome Font Viewer to open font files and preview the fonts before installing them. Apart from the ability to install fonts, it provides detailed information about each font and gives you a thumbnail preview of installed fonts.

KDE users don't need to look for additional software, because KDE Font Management module (found in System Settings) supports font installation and previews. It can also scan for duplicate fonts (and remove them), as well as temporarily disable some fonts which you don't want to use, but don't want to uninstall either.

Font Manager is a bit more advanced application that works on all major desktop environments. It supports basic functions (preview, compare and install fonts), but you can use it to enable or disable certain fonts, organize them into collections, and export collections which you can share or just save as a backup.

Undoubtedly, the ultimate font manager for Linux is FontMatrix. It boasts an impressive range of features that would satisfy even the most advanced users.

Basically, FontMatrix incorporates the functionality of small, one-purpose tools into one application. You can use it to install, uninstall, enable and disable fonts; preview them, tag and organize them into groups, or let the application group them automatically according to the font family.

You can access detailed information and metadata about each installed font, as well as compare and extract selected fonts. You can define custom keyboard shortcuts for actions within FontMatrix, and enable the tray icon from which you can control it. This is useful when you're working with fonts and want to avoid reopening FontMatrix multiple times, especially if you have hundreds of fonts on your computer. When FontMatrix starts, it scans the folders you designated in Preferences for .ttf, .otf and .ps files. Corrupt files are skipped, and properly installed fonts are displayed in FontMatrix, with the total number of installed and activated fonts, respectively, shown in the status bar.

On top of all that, FontMatrix lets you create a PDF font book from selected fonts, as well as define custom sample texts to use for font preview. It's an invaluable tool for anyone who's interested in fonts, typography and design in general.

How to Create New Fonts?

If you wish to create your own fonts, Linux has a tool for that, too. It's called FontForge and it integrates well with FontMatrix, letting you edit characters directly from FontMatrix.

A slightly different approach is offered by a website called My Script Font. Instead of manually drawing every character, you upload a sample of your handwriting which is then converted into a font. This is a cool idea if your handwriting is nice (or at least legible), as it can be used to give a personal, original touch to your documents. It's just one of many ways to have fun with fonts and express your creativity.

Ivana Isadora Devcic is a freelance writer, copyeditor and translator fluent in English, Swedish, Croatian and Norwegian. She's a Linux user and KDE fan interested in web design, productivity and personal branding. Ivana tweets about the world around her as @skadinna.