[mpeg-OTspec] Composite Fonts Policy

[Daniel Strebe]

Colleagues,

Many thanks for the conference call. It seems to stoke fertile discussion after weeks of (also productive) e-mail.

Concerning the matter of policy, I proposed three possible approaches that could inform our decisions and perhaps help automate them.


 1.  Simple. Specify the minimum necessary for a font engine to realize the intent of the composite font under favorable conditions. I see benefits as:  Shorter time to reach a specification; shorter development times for font engines; easy construction of composite fonts; presumably broader adoption. Hazards: Infidelity to the original intent of a composite font, since that intent would not be fully recorded in the composite font; nor would fidelity be required; possible proliferation of proprietary implementations to fill the gaps.
 2.  Pedantic. Craft the specification in detail, making as little of it elective as practical. Benefits: Fidelity of original intent of composite fonts across font engines and environments. Hazards: Greater development time of specification and font engines; attendant narrower adoption; defeat of purpose when the inevitable violations of the specification crop up.
 3.  Elective detail. Mandate as little as required for font fidelity under favorable conditions, but accommodate as much information as required to specify the intent. Benefits: Easy construction of composite fonts and font engines when the intent is mere legibility; possibility of constructing composite fonts that encode complete intent for full fidelity; choice of sophistication in construction of font engines and composite fonts; presumably broad adoption but at varying levels of sophistication. Hazards: Greater development time of specification.

Regards,

- daan Strebe
Senior Computer Scientist
Adobe Systems Incorporated




On 09/04/28 13:46, "Levantovsky, Vladimir" <vladimir.levantovsky at monotypeimaging.com> wrote:

Dear all,

The AHG mandate has been extended to continue the exploration activities on Composite Fonts solution. Like we discussed and agreed earlier this month, we will have a conference call on May 4th discussing Composite Fonts Requirements (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mpeg-OTspec/files/Composite%20Fonts%20Requirements.doc <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mpeg-OTspec/files/Composite%20Fonts%20Requirements.doc> ).

I suggest that we have a conference call starting at 3:00pm PDT (6:00pm EDT, 7:00 am May 5th Nippon - Tokyo).
The conference bridge information is as follows:

Dial-In Numbers:
USA:

      Toll free:   1-866-546-3377
      Toll:   1-719-234-7872

Japan:

      Toll free:   00531 16 0959
      Toll:   +81 (0) 3 4455 1494


  Participant Passcode:   7758315606

Please let me know if the time is good. If there are any participants from other countries who would like to join the call, please let me know and I will provide the updated dial-in information.

Thank you,
Vladimir





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