[OpenType] [mpeg-OTspec] OpenType "Recommendations": First Four Glyphs in Fonts

[Ken Lunde]

Adam,

You wrote:

>> Also, the name of GID+0 is ".notdef" only for TrueType and name-keyed CFF fonts; CID-keyed CFF fonts have no glyph names.
> 
> Neither have the "GID-keyed" TrueType fonts ie. those with "post" table version 3 — which is the majority of the new fonts bundled with Windows. So ".notdef" is the name of GID+0 only in fonts that have glyph names, regardless of the flavor. :) 
> 
> Also: let's also keep in mind that we now have more than two glyph flavors. As far as I can tell, we now have five distinct flavors that can exist exclusively in a font: TT (glyf), CFF, SVG, two bitmap kinds (CBDT or EBDT). 
> 
> I mean this in a more general sense: when we talk about the spec and possible repercussions, let's consider them in the context of all the standardized glyph flavors, not just some :)

Good point, though the GID+0 portion of my inquiry was more of a side note. Like with GIDs 1 through 3, I strongly suspect that there are no longer any dependencies on the glyph name of GID+0, and that its GID is sufficient information for modern environments.

Anyway, the reason I am bringing up the issue of the "First Four Glyphs in Fonts" subsection is that many people who read it treat it as gospel, but actual practice indicates that there are no dependencies on GIDs 1 through 3, in terms of their names and other characteristics. If anyone has any evidence to the contrary, that would be most interesting to me.

Regards...

-- Ken