1195332 - Verify that Fennec is usable without fonts (MOZ_ANDROID_EXCLUDE_FONTS)

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Firefox for Android Graveyard :: General, defect)

Description

[Sebastian Kaspari (:sebastian; :pocmo)]

This is a prerequisite for bug 1194338.

Build Fennec without fonts (MOZ_ANDROID_EXCLUDE_FONTS) and verify that it is still usable on a range of Android devices/versions.

Comment 1

[Sebastian Kaspari (:sebastian; :pocmo)]

On most websites I can't really see any difference, probably because they might load their own fonts. I used a test site[1] that only used the built-in fonts and on that site missing fonts are clearly visible (e.g. no serif font).

In addition to that I checked some of the most popular websites[2]:
* google.com: The font on the search results website is slightly different, maybe not so "beautiful", but everything is readable and usable.
* facebook.com: OK
* youtube.com: OK
* baidu.com: OK
* yahoo.com: OK
* amazon.com: Slightly different font on product page, hard to spot.
* wikipedia.org: Headlines use a serif font that is missing. Fallback is a sans-serif font, so they look different.
* twitter.com: OK

I tested the above websites with a Nexus 5. Furthermore I tested using the test site and some of the affected sites above on these devices:

* Nexus 9 (Android 5.1.1): OK
* Nexus 5 (Android M Preview 2): OK
* Nexus 7 (Android 5.1.1): OK
* HTC Desire HD (Android 2.3.5): OK
* Motorola E2 (Android 5.0.2): OK
* Nexus 5 (Android M Preview 3): OK

Conclusion: On websites using a sans-serif font the difference is almost not noticeable. If a website is using a serif font then it's rendered with a sans-serif font and the difference is noticeable. However all websites I tested have still been usable.

[1]: http://www.zipcon.net/~swhite/docs/computers/browsers/fonttest.html
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_popular_websites

Comment 2

[Richard Newman [:rnewman]]

:standing ovation: