SDB:Font Display While Printing from Mozilla

Version: 9.1

Symptom

For web pages that use certain fonts, the page display in the browser in part differs substantially from the display on the printed page (keyword:WYSIWIG).

Cause

On the one hand, the configuration variable font.directory.truetype.1 is set to the value /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/truetype, and as long as SUSE LINUX standard system is installed, standard TrueType fonts are installed in this directory. Mozilla then uses these fonts to print.

On the other hand, TrueType fonts are installed in this directory by packages that also contain TrueType fonts.

Mozilla cannot use for printouts the same fonts it uses to display web pages in the browser, since scalable, non bitmap fonts are used for printouts.

That is why Mozilla uses a special print module mechanism to find fonts for printing.

If additional packages are installed that contain certain TrueType fonts, it is possible that Mozilla will select one of these fonts and that this will create a bad printed image.

Mozilla versions up to 1.7x cannot be configured so that the program always uses one specific font for displaying pages in the browser as well as for printouts.

The next Mozilla version will include a corresponding bug fix for the problems described here, so that the information included here no longer needs to be taken into account.

If you are interested in detailed technical background information about this problem, you can refer to the following bug entry in Mozilla's Bugzilla web pages:

http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=190031

Solution

Copy all fonts you want to use to print with Mozilla into a newly created, separate directory, for example: /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/mozilla

Change the value font.directory.truetype.1 in the Mozilla configuration and enter the newly created directory.

To execute the change, start Mozilla and enter about:config as the URL in the address line. Another input line, Filter, appears below this line. Enter truetype in this line.

Now the only entry in the list should be the value font.directory.truetype.1. Right click on it and select Modify from the menu. Then enter the new directory in the line.

Additional option:

If you installed a package that contains TrueType fonts that are copied into a separate directory, and you want these fonts to be available in the Mozilla print module, you can add another Mozilla configuration variable, font.directory.truetype.2 .

Again, enter about:config in the address line. Now click on the list that appears below the line, then select New, and then String, and enter the new variable (font.directory.truetype.2) in the pop-up dialog box. If you click on OK, the system opens another pop-up dialog box, where you can enter the corresponding directory. <keyword>mozilla,fonts,ttf,truetype,91,print,browser</keyword>