---
name: "fontglide"
section: "6"
platform: "linux"
package: "xscreensaver"
version: "6.15-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/fontglide"
---

# fontglide(6)

characters float onto the screen to form words

## NAME

fontglide - characters float onto the screen to form words

## SYNOPSIS

**fontglide** \[--display *host:display.screen*\] \[--window\] \[--root\] \[--window-id *number*\]\[--install\] \[--visual *visual*\]  \[--delay *usecs*\]  \[--scroll*\]*  *\[--page*\]  \[--random*\]*  *\[--speed float\]*  *\[--linger float\]*  *\[--program sh-command\]* *\[--font font-name\]* *\[--bw int\]* *\[--trails\]* *\[--db\]* *\[--debug\]* *\[--fps\]*

## DESCRIPTION

*The fontglide program reads text from a subprocess and puts it on* *the screen using large characters that glide in from the edges,* *assemble, then disperse.  Alternately, it can simply scroll whole*  *sentences from right to left.*

## OPTIONS

*fontglide* *accepts the following options:*

- **--window**

  *Draw on a newly-created window.  This is the default.*

- **--root**

  *Draw on the root window.*

- **--window-id *number***

  *Draw on the specified window.*

- **--install**

  *Install a private colormap for the window.*

- **--visual *visual***

  *Specify which visual to use.  Legal values are the name of a visual class,* *or the id number (decimal or hex) of a specific visual.*

- **--delay *usecs***

  *The delay between steps of the animation, in microseconds: default 10000.*

- **--page**

  *With this option, a page full of text will glide in, and disperse.*

- **--scroll**

  *With this option, sentences will scroll by from right to left.*

- **--random**

  *The default is to pick randomly between --page and  --scroll.*

- **--speed *float***

  *How fast to animate; 2 means twice as fast, 0.5 means half as fast.* *Default 1.0.*

- **--linger *float***

  *How long to leave the assembled text on the screen in --page mode;* *2 means twice as long, 0.5 means half as long.  Default 1.0.  (The more* *words there are on the screen, the longer it lingers.)*

- **--program *sh-command***

  *The command to run to generate the text to display.  This option may be* *any string acceptable to /bin/sh.  The program will be run at the end of* *a pipe, and any words that it prints to stdout will end up on* *the window.  (Whitespace and line breaks are ignored.)  If the program*  *exits, it will be launched again after we have processed all the text* *it produced.  Default:* [**xscreensaver-text**(6)](/xscreensaver-text/6.md).

- **--font *string***

  *The base font pattern to use when loading fonts.  The default is to search* *for any Latin1 scalable proportional fonts on the system.  Once a base font* *is selected, it will be loaded in a random size.*

- **--bw *int***

  *How thick an outline to draw around the characters.  Default 2 pixels.*

- **--trails**

  *Leave "vapor trails" behind the moving text.  Default off.*

- **--no-db**

  *Turn off double-buffering.  It may be faster, but will flicker.*

- **--debug**

  *Draw some boxes showing character metrics, and print the name of the* *current font to stderr.*

- **--fps**

  *Display the current frame rate and CPU load.*

## ENVIRONMENT

- **DISPLAY**

  *to get the default host and display number.*

- **XENVIRONMENT**

  *to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources* *stored in the RESOURCE\_MANAGER property.*

- **XSCREENSAVER\_WINDOW**

  *The window ID to use with --root.*

## SEE ALSO

[**xscreensaver**(1)](/xscreensaver/1.md), [**xscreensaver-text**(6)](/xscreensaver-text/6.md), **fortune**(1), [**phosphor**(6)](/phosphor/6.md), [**apple2**(6)](/apple2/6.md), [**starwars**(6)](/starwars/6.md), **ljlatest**(6), [**dadadodo**(1)](/dadadodo/1.md), [**webcollage**(6)](/webcollage/6.md), [**driftnet**(1)](/driftnet/1.md) **EtherPEG**, **EtherPeek**

## COPYRIGHT

*Copyright © 2003 by Jamie Zawinski.  Permission to use, copy, modify,*  *distribute, and sell this software and its documentation for any purpose is*  *hereby granted without fee, provided that the above copyright notice appear*  *in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice* *appear in supporting documentation.  No representations are made about the*  *suitability of this software for any purpose.  It is provided "as is" without* *express or implied warranty.*

## AUTHOR

*Jamie Zawinski \<jwz@jwz.org\>, 15-Sep-2003.*