Font options don't work with pdflatex

[rmcd1024]

Bug description

This document renders correctly:

---
title: Here is a first title
author: Iam Author
format: 
  pdf:
    mainfont: Latin Modern Roman
    sansfont: Latin Modern Roman
    #pdf-engine: pdflatex
---

# First section

Here is some body text

If I remove the hash in front of pdf-engine, so that rendering uses pdflatex rather than xelatex, the font options are ignored. The two rendered examples are attached.

Not sure if this is a bug, but if not it should be documented. (I looked, but in general had trouble figuring out the font options from the online documentation.)

This is using quarto version 1.3.191 on Ubuntu 22.04, and pdflatex is pdfTeX 3.141592653-2.6-1.40.22 (TeX Live 2022/dev/Debian) kpathsea version 6.3.4/dev

pdf-fonts-issue.zip

Checklist

• Please include a minimal, fully reproducible example in a single .qmd file? Please provide the whole file rather than the snippet you believe is causing the issue.
• Please format your issue so it is easier for us to read the bug report.
• Please document the RStudio IDE version you're running (if applicable), by providing the value displayed in the "About RStudio" main menu dialog?
• Please document the operating system you're running. If on Linux, please provide the specific distribution.

[dragonstyle]

Thanks for raising this - yes, those options are for xelatex and lualatex only. The best documentation we currently have is the reference for PDF, which includes a section on fonts:

https://quarto.org/docs/reference/formats/pdf.html#fonts

I think a section in the PDF Basics or Advanced on modifying document fonts would be a nice addition in terms of outlining for newer users how to do this, and also calling attention to option variability like this too. I'll leave this open to track improving that!

[rmcd1024]

Fonts are a difficult subject, but in the revised documentation I think it would be very helpful to give a specific complete example (very brief) where the fonts look like the default LaTeX fonts. That's what I was going for with the Latin Modern Roman. I predict that font control will be a FAQ as Quarto use grows to encompass more LaTeX users.

[cwickham]

Closing and moving doc issue to #5185