SVG Fonts

From Open Font Library Wiki

SVG Fonts are supported in the W3C spec (http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG11/fonts.html). We should accept SVG Fonts to our Open Clip Art Library. I wonder if we shouldn't also accept all types of fonts, or at least accept an open standard for fonts.

A problem with SVG fonts is that they are unhinted. (SVG 1.2 is likely to include a way of hinting SVG fonts, but there are no details yet.) I think we should accept fonts in any major outline format (Type 1, TrueType and OpenType, at least), as they are still usable with SVG.

Update: it now appears that font hinting will not be added in SVG 1.2.

For external references on this topic see Knowledge Resources and Software Resources.

Notes

I'm interested in better font management on Linux (and other FLOSS OS').

Applications that need to be developed:

• Suitcase-like GUI to load/unload and temporarily load fonts. This would be a GUI to fontconfig, fc-cache, etc.
• Fontbook application that will look at given folders of fonts and then create pages, or PDFs of the fonts for viewing online or to be printed out. This is useful so that one doesn't have to scan through tons of fonts by hand. A user should be able to pass a phrase or char-set and then be able to get iterations of the same sample through all fonts selected for viewing.

• IMHO this should be one (modular) application. Given the current mess, font management on FLOSS OSs should propably become centralised as far as possible.
• OpenType support is also an issue, as well as support for arbitrary font naming schemes. This will need support from the developers and maintainers of the respective libraries, etc. --Brsma 11:31, 12 Dec 2005 (PST)