conf.d: include a Core Fonts for the Web substitutes
It feels a bit like this issue is ten years to late, and perhaps some others have already made similar requests, but I think it's very beneficial for the Linux ecosystem if we can define a base set of replacements for certain old Windows fonts.
Background
The story starts not long after I was born. Microsoft proposed a set of default fonts for the web and Christened them 'Core Fonts for the Web'. This was not long before Microsoft got dragged into court for anti-competitive practices, after which terms like Embrace, Extend, and Extinguish became part of our lingo.
The issue
While it might sound like this is al ancient stuff... there are still web pages out there that use some of these core fonts. A shame for sure, but I also feel that we could do more to alleviate the issue: We could give all Linux users a basic set of replacements.
Summarizing the issue in one screenshot:
(Fedora 34, Using Firefox 90 Flatpak)
Missing sans-serif fallback
- Trebuchet MS
- Verdana
Missing monospace fallback
- Andela
Missing grotesque fallback
- Arial Black
- Impact
Missing 'uhm' fallback
- Comic Sans
Missing 'dingbat' fallback
- Webdings
The proposal
30-core-fonts-for the-web-substitutes.conf
This should be a relatively straight forward file that properly assigns these fonts to a font-style, so that in their absence other fonts can be displayed. In spirit, this is almost the same as 30-metric-aliases.conf but of cause it deals with a set of different fonts. In that regard I also hope that my proposal isn't that controversial: There is already a list of fonts that we substitute, I'm only proposing to add ~10 fonts to that list for compatibility reasons. Somebody still has to use that Government website from the 90s.
Example with single replacement file
This issue came up as I was working on improving Flatpak's font support;
https://gitlab.com/freedesktop-sdk/freedesktop-sdk/-/issues/1274
Discussion
I'm not sure what really sure is the process for getting such a change approved. Do you like the idea? Has this been proposed many times before?