[mpeg-OTspec] Omitting "Regular" in the Full Font Name (ID 4) ?

[Peter Constable]

Hi, Bob

I find it hard to think about your question in the abstract. If the font isn’t from an extended typographic family, I guess that implies it is from a RIBBI family, or perhaps a singleton like Wide Latin.

If it’s from a RIBBI family, then I would expect the R member to include “Regular” in the name ID 4 string. If the family only has R and I styles or only R and B styles, then I would still expect the R member to include “Regular” in NID4.

If it’s a singleton like Wide Latin, the I would expect the name ID 4 string to omit “Regular”. Otherwise, it could give the impression that there is a corresponding bold or italic font out there. (Btw, that’s what is done in Wide Latin.)


Peter

From: mpeg-OTspec at yahoogroups.com <mpeg-OTspec at yahoogroups.com> On Behalf Of bobh528 at yahoo.com [mpeg-OTspec]
Sent: Wednesday, August 7, 2019 2:43 PM
To: mpeg-OTspec at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [mpeg-OTspec] Omitting "Regular" in the Full Font Name (ID 4) ?



Prior to Version 4 of the specification (or, more precisely, using Microsoft's versions, prior to v1.8.2), the name table ID 4 (full name) was described rather simply as:

Full font name; a combination of strings 1 and 2, or a similar human-readable variant. If string 2 is “Regular”, it is sometimes omitted from name ID 4.
Commencing with Version 4 (or Microsoft's 1.8.2), the description is much longer:
Full font name that reflects all family and relevant subfamily descriptors. The full font name is generally a combination of name IDs 1 and 2, or of name IDs 16 and 17, or a similar human-readable variant.

For fonts in extended typographic families (that is, families that include more than regular, italic, bold, and bold italic variants), values for name IDs 1 and 2 are normally chosen to provide compatibility with certain applications that assume a family has at most four style-linked fonts. In that case, some fonts may end up with a Subfamily name (name ID 2) of “Regular” even though the font would not be considered, typographically, a regular font. For such non-regular fonts in which name ID 2 is specified as “Regular”, the “Regular” descriptor would generally be omitted from name ID 4. For example, the Arial Black font has a Font Family name (name ID 1) of “Arial Black” and a Subfamily name (name ID 2) of “Regular”, but has a full font name (name ID 4) of “Arial Black”. Note that name IDs 16 and 17 should also be included in these fonts, and that name ID 4 would typically be a combination of name IDs 16 and 17, without needing any additional qualifications regarding “Regular”.
(emphasis mine).

This rewording seems to be suggesting that the omission of “Regular” may be done only for fonts in extended typographic families. Is this what was intended? Or am I misreading something?

Are there benefits to including "Regular" in ID 4 names for the Regular members of a traditional RIBBI font family?

Bob

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