Fiddling around with fractions.

and: language specifics

and: metrics operations

I’d be most interested in a demonstration of contextual alternates — to show how OpenType can help mitigate the problems of handwritten and distressed types, i.e., the obviousness of repeating letters, as well as delivering unusual ligatures where appropriate. This had seemed to me to be a key aspect of TrueType GX that was never fully delivered. I guess that leads me to ask, is OpenType an evolution of TTGX?

I’d like to see a simple table explaining what each Opentype feature actually does, and which applications make use of them. This need not extend to features not implemented anywhere. It would also be nice to see someone cover Opentype features that nobody ever notices or uses—assuming such things exist, anyway.

I guess that leads me to ask, is OpenType an evolution of TTGX?

More a case of tackling some of the same layout issues from a different perspective. The two models are very different — to the degree that there isn’t always an obvious path to reproduce the layout behaviour of one in terms of the other — but they both address advanced linguistic and typographic layout.

At Apple, GX evolved into AAT.

The other significant evolution from GX is SIL’s Grafite, which provides a cross-platform implementation based on the GX approach.

How about an outlined plan of attack for Opentype’s mission to obliterate Truetype and Type 1? Anyone with me?

>How about an outlined plan of attack for Opentype’s mission to obliterate Truetype and Type 1?

May be more accurate to say that 18 years ago TrueType left his home in Cupertino, California and ten years ago hooked up with PostScript in Redmond, Washington. OpenType looks more like her father than her mother, but sadly her mother isn’t doing so well. On the bright side the family back in California has finally come to terms with the child, and has decided to fully support her.

>Anyone with me?

Well, several years ago, when OpenType was announced, there were two or three theorists who claimed that OpenType was some kind of elaborate scam to force people to re-license their entire existing libraries in OpenType form.

What would most interest me would be a discussion of what typographic “features” are best implemented through the font itself verses best implemented through a well though out applications (typesetting) program. Before OpenType there was only the composition programs, but now I sometimes wonder if things haven’t swung too far the other way.

Well, several years ago, when OpenType was announced, there were two or three theorists who claimed that OpenType was some kind of elaborate scam to force people to re-license their entire existing libraries in OpenType form.

Next to those crackpots even I look sane.

Would aanyone care to name any particular Opentype typefaces that they would like to peek under the hood of? In other words, which opentype faces really push the envelope and which features in them rev your engines?

ChrisL

Local Gothic
Bickham Script Pro
Times New Roman 80,000+ combining mark combinations
Cambria Math
Amy’s rude font

i’m most interested in making OT fonts as intelligent as possible, the AI angle.

I’d add to Si’s list
Dear Sarah and
Ed Interlock

Ed Interlock

I’ll second that motion. How magazines recent bit on Ed Interlock really opened my eyes, but it was only mentioned in part of a bigger type article.

contextual alternates

me too

And specifically for Fedra Display & Zaphino I think. And Softmachine too.

It seems that we Typophilers are really keen to hear about scripting possibilities... Perhaps the article could talk about that, if it is aimed towards typeface designers...

Ricardo, I don’t think this is just of interest to type designers, I think that if the average user realized that there are fonts out there that are essentially “smart fonts” they would find that interesting, especially if these smart fonts do something cool and unexpected.

What about situations where a user would like a font to have a particular ability to solve a typography issue for them? What could Opentype do to make a type user’s life easier?

ChrisL

Sebastian,
What aspects of metrics operations interest you most?

ChrisL

Ricardo, I don’t think this is just of interest to type designers, I think that if the average user realized that there are fonts out there that are essentially “smart fonts” they would find that interesting, especially if these smart fonts do something cool and unexpected.

Paul, right on.

By the way, I think that Ilene Strizver published a good article on OpenType features not too long ago, but right now I can’t remember if it was in HOW or Print.

It was How, February issue.
What would be something thst you would like to see beyond what was in that article? Perhaps more depth or detail in what aspect?

ChrisL

Paul, I’m one of those “average users” and I’ll third the request for contextual alternatives — my hubby asked me to identify a font used in a magazine (it was Zapfino) and when I showed it to him on the computer, I managed to get it to produce four different “g” glyphs.

That was pretty neat, but I’d like to know more about how to be able to pick and choose specific ones....

“That was pretty