HTML Formatting Alters Text Style in Layout Text Element

[widmerc]

What is the bug or the crash?

When enabling "HTML formatting" in the text element properties of a Layout, the font style changes unexpectedly, and the letter spacing becomes inconsistent. This is especially noticeable in certain letter combinations (e.g., "it" and "va"), where the characters are drawn closer together, leading to visually unappealing text (see image below)

Steps to reproduce the issue

1. Add a text element in the Layout.
2. Enter some text with HTML tags (e.g., italic, bold).
3. Enable "HTML formatting" in the text element's Main Properties.
4. Observe that the font style changes unexpectedly, and letter spacing becomes inconsistent (e.g., "it" and "va" appear closer together).
5. Disable "HTML formatting" in the Main Properties.
6. Enable "HTML formatting" in the Label Font Settings instead.
7. Observe that the HTML formatting works as expected without altering the font style or spacing.

Versions

QGIS version
3.38.2-Grenoble
QGIS code revision
130c432
Qt version
5.15.13
Compiled against Python
3.12.5
Running against Python
3.12.6
GDAL/OGR version
3.9.2
PROJ version
9.4.0
EPSG Registry database version
v11.004 (2024-02-24)
GEOS version
3.12.2-CAPI-1.18.2
SQLite version
3.45.1
PDAL version
2.6.3
PostgreSQL client version
16.2
SpatiaLite version
5.1.0
QWT version
6.2.0
QScintilla2 version
2.14.1
OS version
Windows 11 Version 2009

Supported QGIS version

• I'm running a supported QGIS version according to the roadmap.

New profile

• I tried with a new QGIS profile

Additional context

No response