This is probably related closely to bugs 2728 and 3335

Hi,

You can change the User Interface font used for menus and things 
quite easily.

The solution is to go to 
Tools->Options->OpebnOffice.org->FontReplacement

Then on the left hand side for Font use the pulldown to select 
"Interface User" (shouldn't this say "User Interface") then under 
Replace with select a font that exists on your system (sans like) 
and that is anit-aliased.

Then hit the (checkbox) which will create an entry in the 
replacement table.

Then make sure you check the boxes for "Always" and "Screen" are 
checked in the replacement table entry you just created,

Then click the "Okay" button to exit the menu.

You should be good to go.


Using this table you can effectively replace any fonts you like with 
any other.

Hope this helps,

Kevin

Does not work here. 
The menu font is still the same.
I did exactly what you said. I've tried the fonts "Tahoma" and
"Helvetica".

Doesnt work here either... I tried with Verdana and Chevara Outline...
Tried restarting OpenOffice.

I don't know how to configure the font menu, but I do know how to make
it look like that in StarOffice 6.0 beta and OpenOffice 641c.

Go to the directory <641c>/share/fonts/truetype.
Copy the files from this directory to <641d>/share/fonts/truetype
Start Office 641d.

My truetype fonts in the apps look awful compared to 641c. Configured
the same; don't know the cause.

Robert.B.Miller@saic.com

I've just tried to replace font with the german 642 devel release.
Same problem.

well, it looks like there is something wrong with my fontpath. What
font uses OpenOffice on default?

Created attachment 1314 [details]
font replacement window

In the font replacement window try to substitute 
    Andale Sans UI
with
    Tahoma
(or whatever font you have legally licenced and installed on your system)

sorry, I dont have this font installed. I only have "Andale Mono",
thats all. Where to find this font?

This is exactly the point: because you dont have this font installed 
it is automatically replaced by some other (in your case 'ugly') 
font. Our user interface initially searches for "Andale Sans UI". So 
if you want some other UI font or you don't like the automatic 
replacement, enter your own replacement for Andale Sans UI as 
Christof wrote. Make sure that the chosen font is available on your 
system. This is the only way to change the user interface font.

1. This should be documented in somewhere
2. It should be easier.. something like replacing a "fake" font like
"User Interface", even better would be a separate option
3. Even when I choose another font, it is not anti-aliased, and non-aa
fonts on my laptop are ugly

okay, font replacement works now. 
The point was, that it only works with some fonts, e.g. "Tahoma" can't
be rendered and so the default font (the ugly one) is displayed.

Are there any debug information, or do you have hints why some fonts
can't be rendered properly? I can choose them in font selection, but
they are not displayed. Indeed they are displayed in the font
selection menu itself (and antialised too)

In other applications these fonts are displayed properly (qt and gtk+).

Created attachment 1327 [details]
menufont: arial

Created attachment 1328 [details]
menufont: helvetica

I've made some screenshots (yes, I already clicked on OK and reopened
the window)

Arial (ttf) as menu font. (menufont-arial.png)
- It looks corrupt
- and it's not antialiased
 
Helvetica as menu font
- Correct appearance, but
- there is a enormous space above and below the font

Again: In qt and gtk+ the fonts are displayed correctly

Reassigned to Ulf.

*** Issue 3762 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***

Created attachment 1742 [details]
Arial font substitution: Menus unreadable

Whoa!  I tried replacing Andale Sans UI with Arial on my system and
ended up with a bunch or horizontal dashes (see
menu-arial-unreadable.png).  Good thing I remembered where the options
menu item was.  After I got things back readable, I checked and the
Arial font does not display in the font dropdown menu either.

You may get a real improvement, if you use your system's libfreetype.so.x
Try this:
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/X11R6/lib/libfreetype.so.6.2
~/OpenOffice.org1.0.1/soffice &

(adapt according to your installation, all in one line)

This task looks again more like a discussion forum than a bug report.
Everyone, please stick to one golden bughandling rule:

Always report one problem in one task. And then stick to that topic!!

Answering to some aspects of this task:

This task is about "Menu font is really ugly and not configurable":

1. ugly menu font is double to #4726 => resolved
2. Menu font not configurable, is a request for a feature. I guess you
don't have to file one, because we already recived many with exactly
this content.
3. > Are there any debug information, or do you have hints why some 
> fonts can't be rendered properly? I can choose them in font
> selection, but they are not displayed.
File a bug to your Linuxdistributor, why their fontserver/Xserver
offers fonts which are actually not available.
4.> Go to the directory <641c>/share/fonts/truetype.
> Copy the files from this directory to
> <641d>/share/fonts/truetype Start Office 641d.
I don't know if this is clever. I wouldn't be surprised if you'll run
into even more problems, if you'll access the same fontname twice.
Once served via X (resp. xfs, rendered by global FT, with perhaps some
special configuration) and twice within OOo's FT. 
I'd like to encourage everyone supporting to this task, to evaluate
the latter scenarion, and submit tasks.
I also don't like the idea of preloading the global libfreetype.
5. Attachment: menue-arial-unreadable.png: you happend to configure an
empty/corrupt font as UI font to OOo. Or you didn't even allow OOo to
read the font file (--- --- --- arial.ttf). In different words, a
simple question of file permissions. (You don't need to submit issues
regarding the latter aspect, as we already have some.)

*** This issue has been marked as a duplicate of 4726 ***

us>I also don't like the idea of preloading the global libfreetype.

Than please provide a better one :-) Have a look at the attachments to
issue 7591 OOos libfreetype vs sytem-libfreetype (from the binary
distribution of XFree86 4.2.0 => patents respected). And please tell
me why you don't like the idea of preloadling the 'good' library.

> from the binary distribution of XFree86 4.2.0 => patents  
> respected).  
  
Please have a look at the source of the binary distribution,, e.g. 
http://cvsweb.xfree86.org/cvsweb/xc/extras/freetype2/include/freetype/config/ftoption.h?rev=1.5&content-type=text/x-cvsweb-markup 
and check the defines. What do you see? :-( 
  
> And please tell me why you don't like the idea of preloadling  
> the 'good' library.  
 
See above. 
 

*** Issue 7591 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***

*** Issue 3754 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***

closing duplicate (btw fonts in 643 look much better now)