[1 mod] Style: Greek lowercase chi ('χ') does not descend below baseline

[Kevin Godby]

The lowercase Greek Chi current occupies the space between the baseline and the x-height. General tenancy is for 'χ' to be rendered between the x-height and that of other descenders (eg. its companions psi and phi: ψφ).

  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-font-family/+bug/609289/+attachment/1631346/+files/GreekFonts.png

If we are purposely going with an unusual style, we should document this decision and the rationale behind it.

[Paul Sladen (sladen)]

Interesting, looking back at 0.008, the lowercase chi does reach the bottom of the descender line; it is the same base glyph, but with scaling applied. In 0.009, the scaling appears to have been removed leaving just the base glyph between the x-height and baseline.

[Frédéric Grosshans (fgrosshans)]

I don't know how it affects greek text, which is obviously the main use case for this font, but it is a problem for me with scientific text where I often have to distinguish x and χ.

Of course, I know Ì should use a different font for that...

[sterios prosiniklis (steriosprosiniklis)]

This design decision for lowercase chi (which does not affect readability) and the one for lowercase gamma https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-font-family/+bug/609289 (which reportedly affects readability) are the main reason i change default font in all new installations of ubuntu...

[Rasmus Underbjerg Pinnerup (pinnerup)]

This bug also affects phoneticists, seeing as the International Phonetic Alphabet – the universal means of notating language sounds – distinguishes clearly between [x], a velar fricative, and [χ], a uvular fricative. These are two different sounds that may distinguish one word from another, and therefore the distinction is a very important one.

Compare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_uvular_fricative and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_velar_fricative. It's absolutely necessary to fix this, or the Ubuntu font face cannot be used for describing the phonetics of languages that use a uvular stop, which quite a few do – see the first link.

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

Verified fixed in an 0.84 test version.

[Rasmus Underbjerg Pinnerup (pinnerup)]

Any idea when this fix will be implemented in a regular Ubuntu install?

[Jiang.Qian (jiang-qian-gmail)]

Hi everyone, where I can download even the beta version of fonts with this fix? This is four years ago and I cannot find anywhere online to download the ubuntu font with correct Greek chi. Since I use the font everyday and I am an aspiring Hellenist, I would very much like to try out a beta version for this!