The GNOME Desktop uses the fontconfig font configuration and
customization library. The fontconfig library can use all kinds of
fonts, including PostScript Type 1 fonts and TrueType* fonts.
The fontconfig library provides a list of all the fonts available on
a system. To compile this list, fontconfig searches the directories
listed in the
/etc/fonts/fonts.conf
file. To view all the fonts available on a system, access the
fonts:/// location in the
file manager on the system.
9.4.1 Font Substitution
The fontconfig library performs font substitution when entire
fonts or individual characters are not present. If the system needs
to display a font that is not available, fontconfig attempts to
display another, similar font. For example, if a Web page requests
to display the Verdana font, and that font is not installed on the
system, fontconfig displays a similar font, such as Helvetica. The
list of similar fonts is defined in the
/etc/opt/gnome/fonts/fonts.conf
file.
If the system needs to display a character that is not present
in the selected font, fontconfig attempts to display the character
in another, similar font. For example, you might select Bitstream
Vera Sans as the font for the Text Editor application. The Bitstream
Vera font family does not include Cyrillic characters. If you open a
document which contains a Cyrillic character, Text Editor uses a
similar font that includes Cyrillic characters to display the
character.
The fontconfig library also defines aliases for fonts (for
example, serif, sans-serif, and monospace). When you select one of
the aliases for a font, the system uses the first font that is
defined for that alias in the
/etc/opt/gnome/fonts/fonts.conf.
