Dejavu Sans Typography: The Mystery of the r n Letter Sequence

[Stephen Tashi]

TL;DR Summary

Does the design of Dejavu Sans type intend that "r" next to "n" look like an "m"?

On my particular computer monitor and computer, using 14 point Dejavu Sans type in Libreoffice, the sequence of letters "r n" looks like an "m".

Is this a deliberate feature of the design of Dejavu Sans type? Or is it something that only happens in

a peculiar combination of circumstances on particular monitors and software?

 

[Wrichik Basu]

This is how it looks in MS Office (Dejavu Sans, 14):

There is a slight gap between r and n.

 

[DrClaude]

The spacing appears to be very tight indeed, but there should be a space:

Source: https://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/dejavu-sans

 

[anorlunda]

Since it appears OK in MS Office, it sounds like an error in the kerning tables in your implementation of that font. It could be something as simple as a typo or a dropped bit.

 

[DrClaude]

Since it appears OK in MS Office, it sounds like an error in the kerning tables in your implementation of that font. It could be something as simple as a typo or a dropped bit.

It can also be due to the scaling used (the font might not render correctly at all zoom factors).

 

[Vanadium 50]

Known issue: https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=89393

 

[Vanadium 50]

It can also be due to the scaling used

If only plain-old-scaling worked for typefaces. But real-life scaling is more complex: a 24 point font isn't identical to a 12 pt version with every dimension doubled. And that's before being turned into pixels, which makes the problem even worse.

 

[Tom.G]

Here, the spacing between the arm of the "r" and the "n" is 2 pixels at 24pt and 1 pixel at 22pt (screen display).

This confirms the info on the link @Vanadium 50 posted; it's too tight -- sometimes.