Q3.2.2: How do I set the text, menu and modeline fonts?

Note that you should use ‘Emacs.’ and not ‘Emacs*’ when setting face values.

In .Xresources:

Emacs.default.attributeFont:  -*-*-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-m-*-*-*
Emacs*menubar*font:           fixed
Emacs.modeline.attributeFont: fixed

This is confusing because ‘default’ and ‘modeline’ are face names, and can be found listed with all faces in the current mode by using M-x set-face-font (enter) ?. They use the face-specific resource ‘attributeFont’.

On the other hand, ‘menubar’ is a normal X thing that uses the resource ‘font’. With Motif it may be necessary to use ‘fontList’ instead of ‘font’. In non-Motif configurations with Mule it is necessary to use ‘fontSet’ instead of ‘font’. (Sorry, there just is no simple recipe here.)