How do I change fonts and adjust their size?

Question

I've been finding fonts on the internet and installing them on my system.

What's the easiest way to change my fonts? I would prefer an easy to use graphical way, but answers with command line recommandations are also welcome.

Answer 1

For 12.04:

(Click here to install it)

For Unity interface users, they have their own tweak-tool. Customisation of Fonts in 12.04 can be done through MyUnity

For gnome-shell/combined gnome-shell & unity users, this font customisation can be done through gnome-tweak-tool as described below.

For 11.10 and above (and GNOME users):

The move to gnome3 has streamlined many of the customisation features that were available in gnome2.

gnome-tweak-tool

(Click here to install it)

For example - the picture below shows theme options as well as fonts customisation.

Unfortunately there is a special workaround for Firefox fonts if you wish to disable antialiasing. For that, you will need to run this command in a terminal:

gksudo gedit /etc/fonts/conf.d/10-antialias.conf

Then replace "true" with "false", save the file, and restart Firefox.

Answer 2

For 11.04 and earlier:

Right click on the desktop and select "Change Desktop Background" and then click the Fonts tab. Couldn't be easier!

(NB: After playing with these setting you may wish to reset your font configuration.)

Answer 3

In Oneiric (11.10), I wasn't interested in installing GNOME Shell just to change font sizes. This will do it via command-line:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface document-font-name 'Sans 10'
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface font-name 'Ubuntu 10'
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface monospace-font-name 'Ubuntu Mono 11'
gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.desktop font 'Ubuntu 10'
gconftool --set /apps/metacity/general/titlebar_font 'Ubuntu Bold 10' --type STRING

The fontfaces are the same as in default Oneiric, but sized down to what looked like much more manageable sizes.

Answer 4

• Install Advanced Settings (aka gnome-tweak-tool) from the Software Center

• Click the dash button or press the Super key,search for Advanced Settings and launch it.

• Click on Fonts and adjust the Font settings .

Answer 5

Aleksandar is correct. You can change the system font settings by installing gnome-tweak-tool (sudo apt-get install gnome-tweak-tool). However, it should be also noted that at this time, doing so also forces you to install all of GNOME-Shell, mutter, clutter, and about 20 other packages.

It's far from the end of the world, but it seems excessive just to change system fonts. (Confession: I did it anyway :).

I doubt it actually needs these things since the tool itself runs fine under Unity, however that's the way the package dependencies are currently set up.

Also note: The fact that you can't change the system fonts from "Appearance" any longer is not a design decision made by Ubuntu developers. These settings were removed from GNOME 3 by upstream GNOME. That this change appears in 11.10 is a result of the migration from GNOME 2.x to GNOME 3 libraries and tools.

Answer 6

If you install Ubuntu-Tweak, you can change the font settings from their own tab. It is not yet at a stable version however, so the general "use at your own risk" warning applies.

The benefit is: you don't need to install GNOME-Shell.

To install it, first add this PPA:

ppa:tualatrix/next

and then install ubuntu-tweak in the software center.

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There is also another option, which is less "official", but works well. It is a font settings dialogue for the GNOME Control Center.

You can get it here: http://gnomefiles.org/content/show.php/GNOME+Font+Settings?content=146126

Example:

Answer 7

Use Gnome Tweak tool

Install it using the below commands in the terminal.

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sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tualatrix/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-tweak

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Once installed goto Tweaks>>fonts

Answer 8

You can also install DConf Editor (dconf-tools package [only a few KB]) from Ubuntu Software Center. Then launch the DConf Editor and open "org" -> "gnome" -> "settings-daemon" -> "plugins" -> "xsettings" in the left pane. After that you'll find "hinting" and "antialiasing" in the right pane. You can simply select the value you wish for the parameters.

The old gnome-appearance-properties is not available under Ubuntu 11.10.

Answer 9

You can use gnome-tweak-tool.Search it in synaptic.

Answer 10

I couldn't find it either.

I came to the conclusion that installing an app called MyUnity was the most reasonable solution for now. In the Ubuntu Software Centre search for: MyUnity, or:

sudo apt-get install myunity

Once installed and launched, try tweaking the settings under "font."

Hope this helps.