LibreOffice Writer: Bad font rendering with anti-aliasing disabled (hinting enabled!) in Manjaro KDE system settings after update to LO 7.4.5-1
I have already posted the problem in the official Manjaro forum, but it could not be solved. There it was suggested to create a bug report. (I don't know if it's allowed or desired to link the thread here, so I'll leave it).
I am using Manjaro KDE (the problem was tested with the LTS-Kernels 515 and 61). To what extent the problem shows up in other desktops (Xfce, Gnome, etc.) I haven't checked, also because as far as I know it's not even possible to disable anti-aliasing in all systems (with hinting enabled).
Up to version 7.3.7-3, LibreOffice Writer rendered fonts such as Arial, Verdana, or even the in Manjaro KDE preinstallled DejaVu Sans with disabled anti-aliasing and enabled hinting slim, uniform and smooth. As of version 7.4.5-1 (presumably generally as of 7.4.x) the fonts look tattered, frayed and unevenly thick (see screenshot below):
I originally had installed LibreOffice Still 7.3.7-3 from the official repositories on my main PC when I noticed the problem after updating to 7.4.x.
Currently I have been able to reproduce the problem on three different systems (main machine, laptop and newly set up virtual machine, all running Manjaro KDE) as follows (Of course, I also had LO create new profiles each time to make sure it wasn't due to some (broken) profile setting.):
- LO Still (official repositories), version 7.4.7-2 -> affected.
- LO Fresh (official repositories), version 7.5.3-2 -> affected
- LO Fresh Appimage, version 7.5.4-2 -> affected
- LO Fresh Flatpak , version 7.5.4-2 -> not affected!
So NOT affected are the "old" version up to 7.3.x and any Flatpak version. All other versions show the bad font rendering.
On a MX Linux KDE (MX-21.3_x64 KDE), which I installed myself testwise in the VM, with the same Appimage version of LO (7.5.4-2) running there, I could not reproduce the problem. So it can't really be a LibreOffice problem?!
Why I posted the problem here and not e.g. in the category packages: If only the LO versions from the official repositories were affected, it would be a case for packages. But since the appimage is also affected as an independent version (flatpak is strangely not!), I think it is a cross-package issue.
Steps to reproduce:
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1. Use a current Manjaro KDE. -
2. Make sure that you have installed an appropriate font, e.g. the preinstalled DejaVu Sans in Manjaro KDE is suitable. The difference is even a bit more visible with Verdana, Arial, Times New Roman. -
3. Go to System Settings -> Appearance -> Fonts and make the following settings (both options achieve the same effect): -
3.1 (Option 1, I took a screenshot of this:) First, make sure that some kind of hinting is enabled, either "Slight", "Medium" or "Full" (it doesn't matter which), because after anti-aliasing is disabled, hinting is grayed out and no longer adjustable. But Hinting must be activated in background, even if it is grayed out afterwards (and supposedly should have no function anymore!). Then: Anti-Aliasing -> Disable/Checkmark out -
3.2 (Option 2:) Anti-Aliasing -> Enable/set checkmark; Exclude range from anti-aliasing -> Enable (8 - 15 pt -> the font size to be tested, e.g. 12 pt must be excluded); Sub-pixel rendering -> Best not to change, for me it is set to RGB; Hinting -> Light, Medium or Full <- important! Force font dpi -> Disable/Checkmark out -
4. Remember that the changes made will only affect programs that are restarted afterwards! I have even experienced having to make and save changes twice until they were fully applied. -
5. Open LO Writer, go to Tools -> Options -> LibreOffice -> View, and uncheck "Use anti-aliasing" and "Screen font antialiasing" if they were set. To be on the safe side, restart LO so that the changes take effect. (I don't see any effect here anyway, but to make it match with the system settings, you might want to make it.) -
6. Now before you write anything to see the font rendering, change the font to one of the mentioned, e.g. DejaVu Sans or Verdana, which I used for my screenshot here. -
(Optional: 7. You can disable the automatic spell checker for better readability). -
(Optional: 8. If you happen to have an older LO version (up to max. 7.3.x) installed in parallel or on a different system (or probably you can get the same results with the current Flatpak version, like I did (can be installed in parallel without problems)), you will see the difference how it looked before).
Translated partly with the help of deepl.com! Therefore, please be lenient! :)