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| Category | Sans-serif |
|---|---|
| Classification | Humanist sans-serif |
| Commissioned by | Canonical |
| Foundry | Dalton Maag |
| Date created | 2010 |
| License | Ubuntu Font Licence |
| Variations | Ubuntu Monospace & Ubuntu Condensed |
| Website | https://github.com/canonical/Ubuntu-Sans-fonts |
Ubuntu is anOpenType-basedfont family, designed to be a modern,humanist-style typeface[1] by London-basedtype foundryDalton Maag, with funding byCanonical 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 theUbuntu operating system in Ubuntu 10.10.[2][3] Its designers includeVincent Connare, creator of theComic Sans andTrebuchet MS fonts.[4]
The Ubuntu font family is licensed under theUbuntu Font Licence.[5]
The font was first introduced in October 2010 with the release ofUbuntu 10.10 in four versions: Regular, Italic, Bold, and Bold Italic in English. With the release ofUbuntu 11.04 in April 2011, additional fonts and expanded language coverage were introduced.[6][7] The final development is intended to include a total of thirteen fonts, consisting of:
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.[8]
The font is fullyUnicode compliant and contains Latin A and B extended character sets,Greek polytonic, andCyrillic extended. In addition, it has become the first native operating system font to include theIndian rupee sign.[9] The font has been designed primarily for use on screen displays, and its spacing andkerning is optimized for body copy sizes.[6][10]
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.[11]
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.[5]
Ubuntu has been included in theGoogle Fonts directory, making it easily available forweb typography,[12] and as of April 26, 2011, it is included for use inGoogle Docs.[13]
Ubuntu Bold Italic is also used in thebitcoin logotype, alongside the bitcoin symbol.[14][15]
Ubuntu Sans is the font used in the "GIF Maker" by the popular GIF sharing app Tenor. The font has become very popular ininternet meme culture, being used commonly to caption GIFs and images.[16]
| Publisher | Canonical Ltd. |
|---|---|
| Debian FSG compatible | No[17] |
| FSFapproved | No |
| OSIapproved | No |
The Ubuntu Font Licence is an "interim"[18] license designed for the Ubuntu Font Family, which has used the license since version 0.68.[5] The license is based on theSIL Open Font License.[19]
The Ubuntu Font Licence allows the fonts to be "used, studied, modified and redistributed freely" given that the license terms are met. The license iscopyleft 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.[20]
Fedora andDebian have reviewed this license and converged on interpreting it as non-free due to incomplete or ambiguous use and modification permissions.[17][21]
The font is Ubuntu Bold Italic for the text.
The logo Bitcoin uses the Ubuntu Bold Italic font.
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.
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