[CONFIGURATION] Firefox hint issue when editing text in Roboto font. Had to fix 56-kubuntu-noto.conf

[ChrisAga]

When I edit text on some web pages in Firefox the some of the characters are slightly moving around their original position. Each time I type a character or move the cursor or hit `delete` or `BS`, the spacing of some character in the text is slightly adjusted. As a result, some characters are kind of "shaking" while I type which bugs me.

Chromium behaves perfectly well on the sames pages.

This issue occurs for instance when I am on my NexCloud pages.

I have Kubuntu 20.04 and Firefox 82.0(64bits) but I noticed this for quite some times now with former versions of Firefox and Kubuntu. I have the same issue on another computer with a relatively fresh install of Kubuntu 20.04.

After some tests with fontconfig, I found a solution by disabling full hinting on Roboto font.

In `/etc/fonts/conf.avail/56-kubuntu-noto.conf` replace :
```
<edit name="hintstyle" mode="assign"><const>hintfull</const></edit>
```
by :
```
<edit name="hintstyle" mode="assign"><const>hintmedium</const></edit>
```
You must quit your session and reconnect for the change to be effective.
I am not a fontconfig expert. Maybe there is something better to be done, but it works for me.
Since this file comes from the `kubuntu-settings-desktop` package, I assume it worth be sharing here.

Should it be tracked as a Kubuntu bug ?

[claydoh]

Hard to say if it is an Ubuntu bug or not (would not be within Kubuntu's domain) or a (more likely) Firefox one. The text editors on various platforms themselves are all different and some have their own foibles, as well.
Here on the forums, using FF, copypasta text for me is a different font than the standard font the text editor uses. This does not happen when using other forums and other places where I can post/comment/etc so it is even difficult to say if it is not the particular editor being used on a platform, the browser, or what.

I seldom ever have issues using Chrome, which is of course much more widely used, tested, and catered to for these sorts of things.

[ChrisAga]

Thanks for your message.

I came here since some Kubuntu project put this configuration on the Roboto font. Strange thing : the header of the file says "// Copyright (c) 2006-2009 The Chromium OS Authors. All rights reserved."
whereas Chromium doesn't seem to be affected by this (work well with or without hintfull on Roboto.

There are no information on what this particular section about Roboto is for (this files deals mainly about the Noto font family).

[claydoh]

https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Roboto#about