Re: [9fans] ttf2subf

[Latchesar Ionkov <lucho@gmx.net>]

I think the magic most ttf fonts use to look good on screen is embedding
bitmap fonts for the small sizes.

Thanks,
	Lucho

On Wed, Mar 22, 2006 at 09:25:39PM -0500, Russ Cox said:
> > 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