Re: Selectfont: extend and slant features

["Joshua Krämer" <joshua.kraemer-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>]

On 2014-03-01, 12:48, Wolfgang Schuster wrote:

> Is there any real purpose for this feature? The letters in the second
> and third line don’t look beautiful because the horizontal and
> vertical strokes don’t match.

As I said, I'm working on a typeface design.  When one tries to
optically match an upright and a slanted (italic) font, several
factors that influence the apparent (optical) size of the letters have
to be considered:  the letters of a slanted font with the
same vertical x-height as an upright font are bigger along their slant
axis, but their counters (inner letter space) are smaller due to the
slant.  Additionally, the different letter forms play an important
role.  Very small differences mathematically in slant and letter-width
can make a big difference optically.  To try out different values, I
mathematically stretch and slant the letters by small amounts.
Afterwards, of course, when the right values have been found, the
letters have to be reworked by hand.

Another use-case for the extend feature could be to stretch/compress a
line (e.g. a title) to the desired length.  If the line is only a little
bit too long or too short, compressing or stretching all the letters by
for example less than 1% can be enough to add up to the desired amount.

Kind regards, Joshua


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