LWN: Comments on "New tools for open source font development"

New tools for open source font development

mfedyk — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 23:06:47 +0000

Does it have an entry in freshmeat as well? I always find it easier to track a project when it is listed there.

New tools for open source font development

mikachu — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 09:22:16 +0000

Here's one that also lists all your fonts with a changeable text, but in python-gtk. The main purpose of the program is to categorize fonts. http://shallowsky.com/software/fontasia/

New tools for open source font development

n8willis — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 20:55:55 +0000

Perhaps it could've been clearer, but ttfautohint is not intended to _replace_ manual hinting, but to generate quality autohints for fonts that have none at all. First and foremost, to benefit users on Windows, whose system renderer does not have a FreeType-like autohinter built-in (Mac OS X's does ... I think it's in Quartz, but I'm not really up-to-speed on my OS X architecture). But secondly, when it comes to doing manual hinting, well-done auto-generated hints are a far better starting place than no hints whatsoever (which I would call the Any Positive Number Is Greater Than Zero principle).

Nate

New tools for open source font development

n8willis — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 20:48:58 +0000

Thought about it, but decided I wanted it to be clear my coverage of the project was on technical grounds, and not intended to be promotional. That said, I hope people will follow the link, watch the video, and consider making a donation.

Nate

New tools for open source font development

mathstuf — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 19:57:34 +0000

A link to the campaign for ttfautohint[1] would probably be a good addition.

(I'm not affiliated in any way, just trying to help.)

[1]http://pledgie.com/campaigns/15816

New tools for open source font development

Cyberax — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 03:17:03 +0000

The patent for TTF hinting has recently expired. That means we can finally use it in all software - and a lot of fonts do look better with manual hinting.