Ubuntu (typeface)
{{Short description|Open-source sans-serif typeface family}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2022}}
{{Distinguish|text=an earlier typeface named Ubuntu Titling}}
{{Infobox font
| name = Ubuntu Font Family
| image = Ubuntu typeface sample.svg
| style = Sans-serif
| classifications = Humanist sans-serif
| creationdate = 2010
| creator =
| commissioned_by = Canonical
| foundry = Dalton Maag
| license = Ubuntu Font Licence
| variations = Ubuntu Monospace & Ubuntu Condensed
| latin = yes
| greek = yes
| cyrillic = yes
| website = https://github.com/canonical/Ubuntu-Sans-fonts
| arabic =
| hindi =
| ipa =
}}
Ubuntu is an OpenType-based font family, designed to be a modern, humanist-style typeface{{Cite web |title=Mark Shuttleworth » Blog Archive » Light: the new look of Ubuntu |url=https://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/308 |access-date=2022-07-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220627044044/https://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/308|archive-date=2022-06-27|url-status=dead}} by London-based type foundry Dalton Maag, with funding by Canonical Ltd. The font was under development for nearly nine months, with only a limited initial release through a beta program, until September 2010. It was then that it became the new default font of the Ubuntu operating system in Ubuntu 10.10.{{Cite web |last=Humphrey |first=Benjamin |date=2010-09-28 |title=New Ubuntu font lands in Maverick for all users |url=http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/09/new-ubuntu-font-lands-in-maverick-for-all-users |access-date=2022-07-06 |website=OMG! Ubuntu! |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |author= Andrew |title=The Ubuntu Font Family Is Now Available In Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat (Officially) |url=http://www.webupd8.org/2010/09/ubuntu-font-family-is-now-available-in.html |access-date=2022-07-06 |website=WebUpd8 |language=en-US}} Its designers include Vincent Connare, creator of the Comic Sans and Trebuchet MS fonts.{{cite web|last1=Peters|first1=Yves|title=Ampersand Conference 2011 Focuses on Web Typography|url=http://fontfeed.com/archives/ampersand-conference-2011-focuses-on-web-typography/|website=Font Feed|access-date=16 July 2015}}
The Ubuntu font family is licensed under the Ubuntu Font Licence.{{Cite web |title=ttf-ubuntu-font-family package in Ubuntu 10.10 "maverick" archiv... : Ubuntu Font Family |url=https://launchpad.net/ubuntu-font-family/+announcement/6844/+index |access-date=2022-07-06 |website=Launchpad |language=en}}
History and features
The font was first introduced in October 2010 with the release of Ubuntu 10.10 in four versions: Regular, Italic, Bold, and Bold Italic in English. With the release of Ubuntu 11.04 in April 2011, additional fonts and expanded language coverage were introduced.[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Ubuntu%20Font%20Family Ubuntu Font Family]{{cite news|url = https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/08/ubuntu-condensed-font/|title = Condensed Variant of Ubuntu Font Debuts|access-date = 20 August 2011|last = Sneddon|first = Joey|date=August 2011| work = OMG Ubuntu}} The final development is intended to include a total of thirteen fonts, consisting of:
- Ubuntu in Regular, Italic, Bold and Bold Italic
- Ubuntu Monospace in Regular, Italic, Bold and Bold Italic
- Ubuntu Light in Regular and Italic
- Ubuntu Medium in Regular and Italic
- Ubuntu Condensed in Regular only
The monospace version, used in terminals, was initially planned to ship with Ubuntu 11.04. However, it was delayed and instead shipped with Ubuntu 11.10 as the default system monospace font.{{Cite web |title=Thanks a billion! Ubuntu on Google Webfonts |url=https://ubuntu.com/blog/one-billion |access-date=2022-07-06 |website=Ubuntu |language=en}}
The font is fully Unicode compliant and contains Latin A and B extended character sets, Greek polytonic, and Cyrillic extended. In addition, it has become the first native operating system font to include the Indian rupee sign.{{Cite web |title=MaverickMeerkat/ReleaseNotes - Ubuntu Wiki |url=https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MaverickMeerkat/ReleaseNotes?action=recall&rev=105 |access-date=2022-07-06 |website=wiki.ubuntu.com}} The font has been designed primarily for use on screen displays, and its spacing and kerning is optimized for body copy sizes.{{Cite web |title=Ubuntu Font Family in Launchpad |url=https://launchpad.net/ubuntu-font-family/+index |access-date=2022-07-06 |website=Launchpad |language=en}}
Between 2022 and 2023, the typeface was updated to a slimmer design and enhanced with variable axes. The revised family, named Ubuntu Sans, was released alongside Ubuntu 24.04.{{Cite web |title=Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat) Release Notes |url=https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ubuntu-24-04-lts-noble-numbat-release-notes/39890#p-99950-updated-ubuntu-font |access-date=2025-05-22 |website=discourse.ubuntu.com |language=en}}
Usage
The Ubuntu Font Family is the default font for the current and development releases of the Ubuntu operating system and is used for the Ubuntu project branding.
Ubuntu has been included in the Google Fonts directory, making it easily available for web typography,[https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Ubuntu Ubuntu Font Family – Google Web Fonts] and as of April 26, 2011, it is included for use in Google Docs.{{cite web|url=https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-font-family/+bug/771443 |title=Bug #771443 Wishlist: Please add Ubuntu to Google Docs |publisher=bugs.launchpad.net |date=2011-04-26 |access-date=2012-03-12}}
Ubuntu Bold Italic is also used in the bitcoin logotype, alongside the bitcoin symbol.{{cite web|url=https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/201597/how-to-create-a-bitcoin-accepted-here-button|title=How to create a "Bitcoin accepted here" button?|quote=The font is Ubuntu Bold Italic for the text.|date=17 September 2014}}{{cite web|url=https://fontslogo.com/bitcoin-logo-font/|title=What font does Bitcoin use?|quote=The logo Bitcoin uses the Ubuntu Bold Italic font.|access-date=12 December 2014}}
Ubuntu Sans is the font used in the "GIF Maker" by the popular GIF sharing app Tenor, the font has become very popular in internet meme culture, being used commonly to caption GIFs and images.{{Cite web |title=GIF Maker |url=https://tenor.com/gif-maker |access-date=2024-02-11 |website=Tenor |language=en}}
TV Tropes has used Ubuntu in its logo since 2016.
Ubuntu Font Licence
{{Infobox software license
| name = Ubuntu Font Licence
| publisher = Canonical Ltd.
| FSF approved = No
| Debian approved = No{{cite web
| url = https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-font-licence/+bug/769874
| title = Bug #769874 Naming restrictions in UFL considered non-free by Debian
| publisher = bugs.launchpad.net
| date = 2011-04-24
| access-date = 2016-07-20}}
| OSI approved = No
}}
The Ubuntu Font Licence is an "interim"{{cite web|last1=Shuttleworth|first1=Mark|author-link1=Mark Shuttleworth|title=Something New and Beautiful: Ubuntu, distilled, in type|url=https://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/537|website=Mark Shuttleworth blog|access-date=14 February 2015|quote=So we came to the compromise of an interim license, which you can find at code.launchpad.net/+branch/ubuntu-font-licence bzr. While licence proliferation sucks, I’m optimistic we’ll converge in due course.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150316072441/https://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/537|archive-date=2015-03-16|url-status=dead}} license designed for the Ubuntu Font Family, which has used the license since version 0.68. The license is based on the SIL Open Font License.{{Cite web |title=Ubuntu font licence |url=https://ubuntu.com/legal/font-licence/differences |access-date=2022-07-06 |website=Ubuntu |language=en}}
The Ubuntu Font Licence allows the fonts to be "used, studied, modified and redistributed freely" given that the license terms are met. The license is copyleft and all derivative works must be distributed under the same license. Documents that use the fonts are not required to be licensed under the Ubuntu Font Licence.{{Cite web |title=Ubuntu font licence |url=https://ubuntu.com/legal/font-licence |access-date=2022-07-06 |website=Ubuntu |language=en}}
Fedora and Debian have reviewed this license and converged on interpreting it as non-free due to incomplete or ambiguous use and modification permissions.{{cite web|url=https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=961642#c4 |title=Bug 961642 - Review Request: ubuntu-font-family - The fonts used in Ubuntu Linux |publisher=bugzilla.redhat.com/ |date=2013-05-13 |access-date=2016-07-20}}
See also
- FF Dax, a similar spurless sans-serif font
- Ubuntu Titling font
- Open-source Unicode typefaces
- GPL font exception
- SIL Open Font License
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
{{Commons category|Ubuntu font family}}
- [https://design.ubuntu.com/font/ Ubuntu Font Family main page]
- [https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuFontFamily Ubuntu Font Family on the Ubuntu Wiki]
- [https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Ubuntu Google Fonts]
{{Ubuntu}}
{{Free and open-source typography}}
{{Monospaced fonts}}
Category:Humanist sans-serif typefaces
Category:Open-source typefaces