[mpeg-OTspec] Re: [OpenType] TrueType-flavored ".otf"

[Behdad Esfahbod]

On 13-01-15 12:53 PM, John Hudson wrote:
> 
> On 15/01/13 7:31 AM, Ken Lunde wrote:
> 
>> While we're on the subject of "Recommendations for OpenType Fonts," some of
> my recent work with TrueType has demonstrated that virtually all modern
> TrueType-capable environments no longer depend on or adhere to the "First Four
> Glyphs in Fonts" portion, specifically that GIDs 1 through 3 can be arbitrary
> glyphs. Only GID+0 (.notdef) must be present and must also function as the
> ".notdef" glyph. This reality brings TrueType in better line with
> PostScript-based fonts in which only GID+0 must be present and function as the
> ".notdef" glyph.
> 
> There remain workflow issues in this regard, and I've found it easier to
> bring PS fonts in line with the old TTF requirement than the other way
> round. The only time a client for CFF fonts has actually requested that
> we not apply the first-four-glyphs rule was when we made fonts for
> Adobe, which required us to manually rewrite the first part of the cmap
> tables (using TTX at that time) after generating fonts from VOLT. While
> the first-four-glyphs rule might no longer be a requirement for any
> consuming software, does it do any harm at all?

Yes: it forces people to do something that has no benefit.  No one is
suggesting that the recommendation be changed to *not* include them.  So your
workflow issue is irrelevant.  You can keep doing what you have been doing.

b

> JH
> 
> -- 
> 
> Tiro Typeworks www.tiro.com
> Gulf Islands, BC tiro at tiro.com <mailto:tiro%40tiro.com>
> 
> The criminologist's definition of 'public order
> crimes' comes perilously close to the historian's
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> - Sidney Harring, _Policing a Class Society_
> 
> 

-- 
behdad
http://behdad.org/