Re: [9fans] ttf2subf

["Russ Cox" <rsc@swtch.com>]

> i did for a while and you can find the latest source on sources or on
> the web. i heard there's another ttf2subf which gets better results
> generating less subfonts (which is what i worked last on, and i think
> i made reasonable success). i have no idea whether the other one has
> made it out.

the program that generates fewer subfonts is one that
rob wrote and starts with bdf, not ttf.

generating screen fonts from ttf is basically not a good idea.
they're going to be ugly at the low resolutions unless they
were explicitly designed to double as screen fonts.  the only
examples i know of in that camp are verdana and georgia,
but i'm not sure that the magic ttf goo that encodes how to
make them look good at small resolutions is known to libfreetype.
http://www.will-harris.com/verdana-georgia.htm

you're much better off finding fonts that were designed as
real bitmap fonts from the start.  any of apple's early bitmap
fonts would fit this category too, but i'm sure they're not
available for general use.

all that said, we've got a collection of very nice fonts - the pelm,
lucm, and lucida bitmaps - i'd stick to those.  if you must, there's
always the x11 fixed-width fonts (/lib/font/bit/fixed).

russ