[mpeg-OTspec] RE: Proposed changes to the OFF specification

[Michelle Perham]

Greg Hitchcock, of Microsoft, asked me to forward this response to the group:



We need some clarification of terms here. I'm going to arbitrarily choose some version numbers to reference the PANOSE data.



PANOSE 1.0 is the version of PANOSE used by TrueType and OpenType. The fields are defined here http://www.microsoft.com/Typography/otspec/os2.htm#pan and (this is important) the description of the contents of the fields are defined here: http://www.microsoft.com/Typography/otspec/os2ver1.htm#pan.



PANOSE 1.5 is not part of the TrueType or OpenType specification and is defined here: http://www.monotypeimaging.com/ProductsServices/pan1.aspx



PANOSE 2.0 is not part of the TrueType or OpenType specification and is (possibly) defined here: http://www.w3.org/Fonts/Panose/pan2.html#DataStructures



I agree that PANOSE 2.0 (using my definitions) is not part of this discussion.



PANOSE 1.0 and PANOSE 1.5 are not fully compatible with each other.



The OpenType specification contains a reference to the PANOSE 1.5 specification only in order to provide the information for a font developer to fill in the fields for PANOSE 1.0, not to add the PANOSE 1.5 field definitions. Note that the OpenType specification says: "The specification for _assigning_ PANOSE values can be found here [http://www.monotypeimaging.com/ProductsServices/pan1.aspx]. " [emphasis added] (I'm using the definition of assign as: COMPUT to designate a value for a computer memory location corresponding to a named variable.) The pointer was _not_ added to redefine the fields as in the PANOSE 1.5 specification, but rather as an online replacement for the reference in the OpenType specification: "The Panose values are fully described in the Panose "greybook" reference, currently owned by Monotype Imaging." The "greybook" referenced in the OpenType specification is: _PANOSE Classification Guide: Numeric specifications for the classification of fonts in the PANOSE Typeface Matching System._ Version 1.2, September 23, 1992, ElseWare Corporation, Seattle, WA.



PANOSE 1.5 requires that the Family Kind field be used as a key to interpret the meaning of the additional fields while PANOSE 1.0 does not have this requirement.



PANOSE 1.5 attempts to closely match the fields and definitions of PANOSE 1.0, but it does not match exactly.



Microsoft products (Operating Systems, Tools, &c.) were all designed with PANOSE 1.0 in mind.



Removing the field definitions from the OS/2 table and instead referencing the specification at http://www.monotypeimaging.com/ProductsServices/pan1.aspx explicitly changes the PANOSE from PANOSE 1.0 to PANOSE 1.5.



Because Microsoft products were designed for PANOSE 1.0 and PANOSE 1.5 is not fully compatible with PANOSE 1.0, this change can break Microsoft products.



If PANOSE 1.5 support is desired, it would require adding a new field to the OS/2 table with the appropriate version change or adding a separate PANOSE table.



Thanks,

Greg




From: mpeg-OTspec at yahoogroups.com [mailto:mpeg-OTspec at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Chris Lilley
Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2011 5:33 AM
To: suzuki toshiya
Cc: Michelle Perham; Levantovsky, Vladimir; OTspec; Simon Daniels; Greg Hitchcock
Subject: Re: [mpeg-OTspec] RE: Proposed changes to the OFF specification



On Thursday, July 21, 2011, 10:37:59 AM, suzuki wrote:

st> Dear Michelle,

st> I (personally) think Panose 2.0 is something like yet-another
st> Panose restructured from scratch, and it is not so easy to
st> extend existing Panose 1.0 implementation to support both of
st> Panose 1.0 & 2.0 seamlessly.

I agree. Also, its not clear how complete the Panose 2 work is.

st> I guess Chris Lilley mentioned
st> Panose 2.0 for the ownership and the license info, and he is
st> not proposing to use Panose 2.0 in future OpenType, at present.

Yes, exactly.

--
Chris Lilley Technical Director, Interaction Domain
W3C Graphics Activity Lead, Fonts Activity Lead
Co-Chair, W3C Hypertext CG
Member, CSS, WebFonts, SVG Working Groups

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