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1811s plus testcases project rev 1378 (almost) solved this issue. For Swing, the test is identical, but for Web, the text is anti-aliased, and its drawn width is larger than the legacy width.

testcases project rev 1378 contains custom font definitions for these fonts:

MS Sans Serif
Courier New
Segoe UI
Microsoft Sans Serif
FixedSys
Tahoma

The custom-fonts added to simple/server/directory.xml is this:

        <node class="container" name="custom-fonts">
          <node class="container" name="font1">
            <node class="string" name="font">
              <node-attribute name="value" value="Tahoma"/>
            </node>
            <node class="string" name="file">
              <node-attribute name="value" value="fonts/tahoma.ttf"/>
            </node>
          </node>
          <node class="container" name="font2">
            <node class="string" name="font">
              <node-attribute name="value" value="Tahoma"/>
            </node>
            <node class="boolean" name="bold">
              <node-attribute name="value" value="TRUE"/>
            </node>
            <node class="string" name="file">
              <node-attribute name="value" value="fonts/tahomabd.ttf"/>
            </node>
          </node>
          <node class="container" name="font3">
            <node class="string" name="font">
              <node-attribute name="value" value="Courier New"/>
            </node>
            <node class="string" name="file">
              <node-attribute name="value" value="fonts/cour.ttf"/>
            </node>
          </node>
          <node class="container" name="font4">
            <node class="string" name="font">
              <node-attribute name="value" value="Courier New"/>
            </node>
            <node class="boolean" name="bold">
              <node-attribute name="value" value="TRUE"/>
            </node>
            <node class="string" name="file">
              <node-attribute name="value" value="fonts/courbd.ttf"/>
            </node>
          </node>
          <node class="container" name="font5">
            <node class="string" name="font">
              <node-attribute name="value" value="Segoe UI"/>
            </node>
            <node class="string" name="file">
              <node-attribute name="value" value="fonts/segoeui.ttf"/>
            </node>
          </node>
          <node class="container" name="font6">
            <node class="string" name="font">
              <node-attribute name="value" value="Segoe UI"/>
            </node>
            <node class="boolean" name="bold">
              <node-attribute name="value" value="TRUE"/>
            </node>
            <node class="string" name="file">
              <node-attribute name="value" value="fonts/segoeuibd.ttf"/>
            </node>
          </node>
          <node class="container" name="font7">
            <node class="string" name="font">
              <node-attribute name="value" value="Microsoft Sans Serif"/>
            </node>
            <node class="string" name="file">
              <node-attribute name="value" value="fonts/micross.ttf"/>
            </node>
          </node>
          <node class="container" name="font8">
            <node class="string" name="font">
              <node-attribute name="value" value="Fixedsys"/>
            </node>
            <node class="string" name="file">
              <node-attribute name="value" value="fonts/fsex301-l2.ttf"/>
            </node>
          </node>
          <node class="container" name="font9">
            <node class="string" name="font">
              <node-attribute name="value" value="MS Sans Serif"/>
            </node>
            <node class="string" name="file">
              <node-attribute name="value" value="fonts/micross.ttf"/>
            </node>
          </node>
        </node>

I still need to find a replacement for the System font.

Note that for FixedSys I've used fsex301-l2.ttf provided by http://www.fixedsysexcelsior.com/ , with a "fixed" version from comment 16 here: http://askubuntu.com/questions/210283/how-to-use-fixedsys-in-the-gnome-terminal-or-wherever-monospaced-fonts-are-requ

Another good read is this: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/200671

LE: GES fixed the "Segue" typo.

Only way until now to disable anti-aliasing on Firefox is by placing a ~/.fonts.conf file with this content:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd">
<!-- /etc/fonts.conf file to configure system font access -->
<fontconfig>

<!-- Antialias -->

<match target="font"><edit mode="assign" name="antialias">
<bool>false</bool>
</edit>
</match>

But this disables anti-aliasing for the entire browser... the only good news is with antialiasing off, the text is drawn correctly.

The more I dig, the less confident I am that there is a way to disable this at the CSS/canvas/canvas context level.

But this disables anti-aliasing for the entire browser... the only good news is with antialiasing off, the text is drawn correctly.

I appreciate the information. It is good to know that if we could disable anti-aliasing, that the implementation would work.

We have to assume this will not be an acceptable solution. Our default approach assumes our system will work without changing the user's browser configuration and without plugins or extensions.

The more I dig, the less confident I am that there is a way to disable this at the CSS/canvas/canvas context level.

Let me think on this some. I also want to run enough different testcases to get an idea of how much this will be a real problem.

About bitmap fonts in general; what they did for wine is use FontForge to transform the bitmap (.fon) files to true-type (.ttf) files. Details are here: http://wiki.winehq.org/CreateFonts#head-deff07f4a7aefdb379154cc4d0de0bd87fd440ec

So is it acceptable (in licensing/copyright terms) to take the .fon files from Windows and converting them to .ttf?

Note that the .fon file for the System font in windows is vgasys.fon.

So is it acceptable (in licensing/copyright terms) to take the .fon files from Windows and converting them to .ttf?

No, it is most likely not allowed. Unless the user's license for these fonts allows them to create a derivative work, it would not be allowed. The chances of Microsoft having provided that right in their license for those fonts is approximately 0%.

Someone that is already licensed to those files may be able to use them with P2J (if we supported bitmap fonts). It would depend on the license they've got for that font, which may not be easy to determine since it may have been licensed as part of a larger system (e.g. Windows OS). It is possible that the license would not even allow this, but we can't know without looking at the specific license.

In what ways does the default 4GL GUI environment depend on this font?

For the current project, we know that we should not need to draw using the system font. For the current project, what impact does this have on sizing or other processing?

Greg Shah wrote:

In what ways does the default 4GL GUI environment depend on this font?

4GL depends on bitmap fonts (System, FixedSys, MS Sans Serif) for layout/sizing and text drawing.

For the current project, we know that we should not need to draw using the system font. For the current project, what impact does this have on sizing or other processing?

If drawing is not performed using System font (and I think none of the bitmap fonts are used for drawing), then we have nothing else to do. The sizing/layout depends only on the System font's metrics, which we have already captured.

Greg Shah wrote:

Someone that is already licensed to those files may be able to use them with P2J (if we supported bitmap fonts).

BTW, a question about the .ttf files in server/fonts - except the excelsior version, all are taken from the Windows fonts folder - so, again, what options do we have in using these fonts outside the Windows platform?

a question about the .ttf files in server/fonts - except the excelsior version, all are taken from the Windows fonts folder - so, again, what options do we have in using these fonts outside the Windows platform

Yes, that is most likely an issue. It is very likely that you would not be allowed to distribute those files to other systems. As Golden Code, we certainly can't provide them to anyone.

I think it is important to find replacement fonts that are freely licensed.

A starting place:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_fonts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croscore_fonts

This is the original company that created most of those fonts, I think:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascender_Corporation

BTW, in the directory entries above, I think "Segue UI" should be "Segoe UI".