beeware/toga

Add testing of a "true" variant font

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#4,480 opened on Jun 18, 2026

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Description

What is the problem or limitation you are having?

As noted in #2159, the Endor font doesn't contain a "true" bold or italic, resulting in rendering on iOS and macOS that looks

This contrasts with GTK and Windows, which apply "fake" bold and italic:

Describe the solution you'd like

  • Add to the fonts example app an example of a "true" variant font. Recursive has been suggested as a candidate.
  • Add a tests to the testbed canvas test that performs an automated test of what the fonts example is rendering. Add one test for each font (i.e. render an image that renders text as normal, bold, italic and bold-italic for each font).

Describe alternatives you've considered

Don't explicitly test variant fonts.

Additional context

No response

Contributor guide

Research direction
Add a true variant font to the fonts example app and write automated tests for rendering normal, bold, italic, and bold italic for each font.
Tech stack
python
Domain
testing
Issue type
Test
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
2
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
Half day
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Fresh
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
Python
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
65