# How to create RGB  fonts for Xfce?



## teo (Nov 24, 2017)

Hello!

Does anyone know how to proceed to create RGB  fonts for Xfce? The chapter on sources in Handbook, I get confused.


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## SirDice (Nov 24, 2017)

RGB fonts? What do you mean by that? Fonts are typically monochromatic (i.e. one color).


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## teo (Nov 24, 2017)

SirDice said:
			
		

> RGB fonts? What do you mean by that? Fonts are typically monochromatic (i.e. one color).


The system only detects the sources in *rgb-vrgb *and *vbgr* , and does not detect in* rgb* only, this is what Handbook says.

*5.5.3. Anti-Aliased Fonts*

Users can add personalized settings by creating their own ~/.config/fontconfig/fonts.conf. This file uses the same XML format described above.
One last point: with an LCD screen, sub-pixel sampling may be desired. This basically treats the (horizontally separated) red, green and blue components separately to improve the horizontal resolution; the results can be dramatic. To enable this, add the line somewhere in local.conf:

<match target="font">
         <test qual="all" name="rgba">
         <const>unknown</const>
         </test>
         <edit name="rgba" mode="assign">
         <const>rgb</const>
         </edit>
     </match>

*Note:*

Depending on the sort of display, rgb may need to be changed to bgr, vrgb or vbgr: experiment and see which works best.

https://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/x-fonts.html


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## SirDice (Nov 24, 2017)

Ah. Is it the subpixel rendering that's unclear? The fonts (and other graphics) are still the same, it's just a change in the way they are rendered. A pixel on your screen usually consists of three tiny blocks of red, green and blue. The way these blocks are arranged differs with the type of screen, a TV, old school CRT monitor or an LCD have different arrangements. Just take a magnifying glass and look closely at your monitor and your TV for example. Because anti-aliasing tries to smooth the staircase effect of pixels, that arrangement of red, green and blue blocks on the actual screen becomes important. This is most obvious with text, i.e. fonts. Choosing the right one will make fonts look sharper and therefor easier to read.


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