FOSS fonts

[darrelljon]

What's the difference between FOSS fonts, Liberation fonts and Linux Libertine fonts? And which FOSS font is best and should I use and why?

[jonjon2]

To my knowledge, FOSS fonts - free and open source software - are general open source fonts. Liberation fonts are fonts under the liberation collection umbrella - Liberation Sans, Liberation Sans Narrow, Liberation Serif, Liberation Mono - designed for Windows. These were also meant to be free, open-source options instead of proprietary fonts. Finally, the Linux Libertine fonts are part of a larger open-source Linux-based project: the Libertine Open Fonts Project (see here), designed by and for Linux.

So, to answer the question, they are all open source. The difference is the operating system behind it.

As for where to get them, there are many options, but since I haven't used them, I can't say for sure. However, this article discussing responsive typography gives a good outline of free fonts and where to get them, including Google Fonts. Might be worth looking into. Otherwise, a quick Google search of open source fonts will bring you across many many options. So finding what you want may just require a little research.

[darrelljon]

I'm looking for print fonts I can use commercially and license to modify and redistribute would be nice too.

[jonjon2]

I'm looking for print fonts I can use commercially and license to modify and redistribute would be nice too.

Do you mean you want to have proprietary rights over open source fonts? That defeats the purpose of an open source font doesn't it?

f you just mean you want an open source font that you are able to make commercial printed material out of, any open source is fine. If you plan on altering this font and trying to resell it.....well....sorry, but then that's a bit annoying to me. People put a lot of work into open source fonts and software so that people could use them for free. You wanting to alter them and then resell them just steals other people's work, add very little of your own, and then try to make money on what someone else created. That's cheap and personally I don't support that.

[darrelljon]

Not really, Ubuntu can be used commercially and modified and redistributed. Does that defeat the point of free software? I think you should read
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-...-point.en.html