windows - How to change / configure font fallback?

04
2013-09
  • Zom-B

    Recently I re-installed Windows XP English, and after setting the locale to Japanese, and installing my favorite fonts, all Japanese text in the GUI became strange. The GUI font is Tahoma (default).

    In the past it would render foreign scripts with Windows' own fonts, but now, for some reason, it's using one of my own installed fonts, and a bad one at that! (the font I call Kiddie in this screenshot)

    fallback-fail.png

    I deleted this font, and then windows took one of the very unreadable semi-cursive fonts. I re-installed the Kiddy font and windows immediately used that again (all without rebooting)

    Does anyone know how to change/alter/configure the windows font fallback strategy? I don't care if it takes third-party software.

    • Answers
  • FauxFaux

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/goglobal/bb688134.aspx explains some of the options, but they're all unsupported and based on the implementation details of whatever application you're using.


    • Related Question

    Windows: How to change the system/dialog font?
  • Ashwin

    I switched over to Cleartype on Windows XP about 3 years ago. And in the Theme settings I used Vista (made-for-Cleartype) fonts for all the UI widgets.

    However, certain system dialogs of Windows and Windows utilities still show up in the older Windows font. That now looks butt-ugly under Cleartype. Anyone knows how to change this system font too?


    • Related Answers
  • Daniel Rikowski

    Sometimes the font is hard-coded into the application.

    In that case you have no chance to change their font through the global Windows settings.

    Remember when Microsoft decided to lighten the dialog background color a little bit? (Windows 2000/ME) Suddenly many applications had dialogs with a mixture of dark and light gray colors. (Most times when glyphs/icons were not transparent and instead had the old dialog color background)