Can't make Ubuntu font bold in Linux Mint 22 ...

[Omnimaxus]

Can't make the Ubuntu font bold in TextMaker 2024 on Linux Mint 22. This wasn't a problem in Linux Mint 21.3. I tested this in VirtualBox. No problem, too. Same for Zorin OS 17 on VirtualBox. No issues. I tested it on Linux Mint 22 in VirtualBox, too. Can't make the Ubuntu font bold. Can italicize or underline it. But not make it bold. Same thing on my actual Linux Mint 22 OS. Am using the latest version of SoftMaker Office 2024 (paid) on Linux Mint 22. Already submitted a ticket online for support, but haven't heard back anything. This seems to be a bug with SoftMaker Office. Please fix. Thanks!

[lgsl]

Did you made sure you have the full Ubuntu font family installed in your system?

[Omnimaxus]

I should add that I tried LibreOffice. LibreOffice can make the Ubuntu font bold on my PC in Linux Mint 22. But not TextMaker.

[martin-k]

You should check if you have Ubuntu Bold installed. Other applications can artificially make a regular font bold (which looks kind of ugly), but SoftMaker Office does not do that.

[Omnimaxus]

I do not have Ubuntu Bold, no. How do I add it? Please, and thank you for the quick response.

[Omnimaxus]

UPDATE:

So I went searching for the Ubuntu fonts online. I found the "official" font download at: https://design.ubuntu.com/font. I downloaded the file, extracted it to a folder, and copied/pasted all the .TFF files to the font folder on my Linux Mint 22 install. After I rebooted the computer, I tried it again, and presto, it all worked. I was pleasantly surprised. But the interesting thing was that before I pasted the whole Ubuntu font family into the fonts folder, I noticed the Ubuntu-B (Ubuntu Bold) .TFF had an arrow on it pointing upwards. Other fonts were fully accounted for (in other words, they didn't have an arrow on their icons). But now the arrow is gone. It works now. Very interesting. I don't know what happened before. It's all very strange.

Does anyone from SoftMaker have any clue as to what might've happened here? Thanks!

[Omnimaxus]

Also - as long as I'm posting here, I want to say "thank you" to the SoftMaker team for making such an excellent office suite package for Linux. I switched over to Linux from Windows 8 months ago, and have been an exclusive Linux Mint user for a few months now. It's a good distro. Rock-solid. Yes, open-source software is nice and all, but at the same time, it's important to have paid options, too. You guys (and gals?) are an good example of how software developers should treat Linux in general. Please keep it up. Happy to have the paid version of SoftMaker Office. Thank you again.

P.S.: Just wish you'd include grammar and readability options for English. That's my only gripe about SoftMaker Office. Please add this in the future.

[SuperTech]

TFF had an arrow on it pointing upwards.

The upwards pointing arrow symbol simply means that was just a shortcut and not the actual file.

P.S.: Just wish you'd include grammar and readability options for English. That's my only gripe about SoftMaker Office. Please add this in the future.

Thank you for your valuable feedback. I have forwarded this improvement suggestion.

[Omnimaxus]

[Omnimaxus]

MAJOR UPDATE:

So, apparently with Linux Mint 22, there was a change made to the Ubuntu font family contained within its original install base. I'll let this link do all the talking: https://github.com/orgs/linuxmint/discussions/546 (just found out about this earlier today, actually). What now? Will SoftMaker release a fix to ensure that all fonts can be made boldface, no matter what? LibreOffice makes the Ubuntu font boldface on Linux Mint. I don't think this should be incumbent on users to fix with a separate font download. It should be on SoftMaker to do right by its users and fix this so users can retain the ability to make fonts boldface, regardless.

I sincerely hope SoftMaker will do the right thing here. Thanks.

[SuperTech]

Other applications can artificially make a regular font bold (which looks kind of ugly), but SoftMaker Office does not do that.

As Martin explained here, we don't support making artificially regular font bold because it looks ugly.

[Omnimaxus]

[lgsl]

There are reasons as why a program should never fake bold or italic styles for a font. The short version is the one that was given by Martin: It looks ugly.

The reality is that when a font family do not have a bold variation it means is not meant to have one. This can be due a design choice or a limitation of the design. When you fake the variation you are reducing readability because the program is deforming the original shape of the font and, in most cases, does not take into account things like kerning, or the shape and conditions of every glyph that makes part of the font-face.

The solution to your issue is given in the link you provide. Simply install the package instated there.

As why Ubuntu made the change... I do not know you'll have to have a chat with the font authors. Most likely is an evolution of the font.

When it comes to fonts is up to the user, not the program. Softmaker's behavior is the correct way to go about it. SMO does exactly the same as any serious design application would do.

[Omnimaxus]

Thanks for replying. I have solved my issue by switching to my previous OS (Zorin OS). All is good now.