Roadmap
From OFLB
The Open Font Library is seeking PHP developers to improve our ccHost software so that we become a better host for typeface design projects. We need your help in working on this project and making it the best it can be!
If you are interested in developing the site, this Roadmap outlines all the various new things we want to develop and need help with. Dive in and start editing that page with your ideas!
If you would like to help with development, please see the OFLB TODO list page for immediate concrete tasks we need help with.
Milestone 1 - Release 0.1 - The Launch
Library
Collecting a rich catalog of libre/open fonts for distribution in GNU/Linux (and *BSD) systems
Case studies. We need to consider multiscript publishers on the web whose sites will be greatly enhanced by @font-face and who are not being served by the narrow interests of proprietary foundries, and approach them for support of the library. BWS, OUP, etc.
- Add nice charts with http://g.raphaeljs.com/
- Do a full licensing audit and turn on moderation to prevent misguided users uploading restricted fonts: we care about quality and respecting upstream author's decisions: we are NOT as sloppy about licensing as freeware font sites!
- Explain how to use version control to collaborate on a font
See the foo-open-font-sources VCS template
- Promote the UFO format and other common formats
- Figure out and fix the problems with the GPL GPLv3 in the context of fonts
- Put anything in Bugzilla into this page - DONE
- Add an OKFN button from http://opendefinition.org/buttons/ - DONE
- edit CSS for 120dpi screens
- Can someone make some A4 and A3 posters in color and b&w so that people can print them off and stick them in their dept whiteboard at school/college/work studio to advertise the site?
- Theme the http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/openfontlibrary page.
- Purchase a SSL certificate from GoDaddy or Dreamhost or whoever and set up https://trac.openfontlibrary.org/ so it has a valid cert.
Milestone 2 - Release 0.2 - Monthly Releases Begin
- Consider http://readingtype.org.uk/texts/OFL-barcampapache-20090405.html and BW's other texts on OFLB
- Start a monthly release cycle. structure tasks to reach each monthly cycle
- Grouping by family (normal, bold, italic, small caps variants of a the font grouped in a single location)
- Useful indications such as whether the font contains accentuated letters, the euro symbol, ligatures, which character sets are included and so on.
- persuade designers listed on existing fonts page to "Go OFL!" and to start submitting their fonts to the OFLB
- typeface.js could be used as a fallback for @font-face support.
- Mention OFLB on fd.o
Milestone 3 - Release 0.3 - Community Update
Community
A meta project for improving the project itself
- add links to https://openhatch.org/search/?q=&toughness=bitesize for finding distro packagers
- fix MediaWiki so that ref tags work
- Perfect the name for this part of the project
- Pick one of the Project Slogan Ideas
- In, Out, Meta symbols could be used to subbrand the three areas of the project
- compare nice mediawiki themes to ours, like http://wiki.mozilla.org/ and tango project
- focus more attention on the site and publicise the project
- get more people outside the community involved in the Open Font Movement
- write a OFLB manifesto - see Libre/OpenFontManifestos page
Milestone 4 - Release 0.4 - Library Update
Library
Collecting a rich catalog of Libre/Open Fonts for distribution in GNU Linux systems
- Desktop font association for previews
- Identify standard font preview / installation tools for each desktop
- Windows: Native
- KDE: kfontview
- Gnome: gfontview
- General Linux desktop: ???
- Test distros to ensure they include file associations to these tools
- Windows: Yes (XP pro SP2)
- Ubuntu: ???
- Debian: ???
- Gentoo: ???
- Fedora Core
- Open SuSE
- If not, contact distro and notify them about the lack
- Where no such tools exist, plan implementing them
- Maybe like http://www.linotype.com/fontexplorerX ?
- A world class designer only needs a dozen or even less really top quality fonts that are all quite distinct and cover all the major categories of type. Should the collection really focus on high typographic quality for designers? Massimo Vignelli made an infamous presentation at ATypI 2006 about this, perhaps he could be contacted to provide a summary of his views on this?
- Identify standard font preview / installation tools for each desktop
Milestone 5 - Release 0.5 - Integrate with FontForge and FontMatrix
Publicise FontMatrix as the "Open Font Library type manager - for activation and deactivation of all your fonts"
Make FontForge packages for double-click installing on Mac OS X and Windows.
Integrate the @font-face subsetting of http://fonts.philip.html5.org/
Set up donate to Libre Font Fund buttons on all pages, and then contact other font libraries carrying libre fonts and ask them to do so as well, instead of $0.
http://adbard.net/ would be good to raise funds
Milestone 6 - Release 0.6 - The Workshop Project
Workshop
Accelerating the development of new Libre/Open Fonts with documentation, desktop tools and web applications
- Collect top freely licensed typeface design and font development documentation from across the web and link to it on Knowledge resources page
- Put call out to existing FLOSS developers and ask them to contribute to this roadmap
- List Free Software for font development and help document and improve them
Milestone 7 - Release 0.7 - ?
- Start a Wikibook on "basics of fontmaking" "Fontforge" "Type design" "TTF-Hinting and Kerning"
- get good pages about all our fonts into http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Open_source_typefaces and other type wikis.
- Go over this Old Interview with Jon Phillips for ideas
Milestone 8 - Release 0.8 - ?
- Make an screensaver-like animation from a series of the PNGs that the font preview feature creates. Implement a feature like myfonts' "more like this" to really be like 'last.fm'
- Make OFLB run as a "user-respecting web service" - following the Franklin Street declaration and other best practices recommended by [1]
Milestone 9 - Release 0.9 - ?
Add a feature for uploading scans of public domain type specimens and such, similar to Liam's fromoldbooks site but focused on type.
Milestone 10 - Release 1.0 - ?
Project a reliable image: Licences and changelogs attached clearly - both buried in font metadata and as separate text files in release bundles and at the top of VCS trees and visible on the family webpage, vcs trees for all families, bug tracking for each family, and version numbered releases. Make authors prominent so that clients will be willing to invest in them and hire them for custom work.
Consider guides to proprietary font business and roll out a similar business infrastructure for libre fonts
Future Items
- Arrange donations via donations and grants.
- Integrate http://dave.lab6.com/acid/dump/2009/fingerprint.py into typeface record pages
- Add thumbnail view to font listings.
- Better curate messy tag cloud. "Contest" what is that?
- Allow public to add tags like "Slab Serif", Print, book, decorative, clean, old fashioned, distressed, including tags with spaces,
- Please add your thoughts here!
Donation Tasks
Donations are being accumulated, and will be used to develop the project in ways that the community cannot achieve without financial aid. Here are some ideas for such developments, please add your own ideas to this list!
- Making the site's backend ship fonts to other distributors like Debian, Fedora, and CTAN.
- Making the site fully internationalised and translated
- Attracting a professional typeface designer to kickstart freely available documentation on typeface design.
- Purchasing the sourcecode to iKern and releasing it under the GPL
- Your ideas here....