Fonts in Netscape 7.1 look horrible (Linux)

[adinas]

I downloaded Netscape 7.1 and the menu fonts look really bad (no antialiasing) Anybody got any idea how to fix this or get a good looking version. How can Netscape even release such a product?
To see a screen shot goto http://www.aronson.co.il/temp/screenshot.png

[chrisnu]

Compile a mozilla from sources with gtk2/xft support enabled. Not all users use gtk2 or xft, so it cannot be enabled by default.

[nosebleed]

As a Windoze user, everything looks better in Linux to me :usa

[adinas]

I don't know how to compile on Linux so i can't do it for myself.
It seems pointless to provide such an ugly version at all

[Z_God]

What distro are you using? Most distros have Mozilla packages availlable for it.

[marc00s]

Seems that nobody noticed that adinas was talking about Netscape 7.1 and not the usual Mozilla! And John Averageuser cannot recompile Netscape.

To enable FreeType2-based antialiasing in Netscape 7.1:

1. Quit Netscape.

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xterm &
su root
cd /your_netscape_directory/defaults/pref
vi unix.js

(or, as you wish, open the file /your_netscape_directory/defaults/pref/unix.js as the root user in your favourite editor)

Now, find the line which says:

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pref("font.FreeType2.enable", false);

and change it into "true":

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pref("font.FreeType2.enable", true);

In one of the following lines you should see something like this:

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//pref("font.directory.truetype.1", "/some/directory/");
//pref("font.directory.truetype.2", "/some/other/directory/");
...

Uncomment it (remove the two leading slashes) and change the directories to the ones you have TTF (truetype, such as micro$oft's verdana, trebuchet and tahoma) fonts in them, e.g.:

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pref("font.directory.truetype.1", "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TTF/");
pref("font.directory.truetype.2", "/mnt/windoze/Fonts/");
...

If you have more directories with TrueType Fonts, just add them as font.directory.3, 4, 5...

There are some other options that let you customize the antialiasing settings in unix.js.... If the fonts look not good enough or the AA is too deep, just edit some of the numbers in this section.

Save the file ( [ESC]:wq! if you're using vi ) and start Netscape.

The browser will now use antialiased true type fonts. It may be a bit buggy sometimes, though (the GUI sometimes likes to loss the antialiasing, but at least the content is still properly antialiased. If this happens, change font settings in Gnome to a font that looks good with and without AA).

(This also applies to all unix Mozillas without XFT).