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fontname codes for variants (was: fontname code for scaled variant)



Karl Berry writes:
> Well, as long as the font isn't being distributed widely, it doesn't
> really matter what name you give it.

This is true. However, if there is an official naming convention for
something, I might as well follow it as not. I never send DVI files to
anyone, so I don't need to use fontname style names at all, but I still
do, out of some sense of ``doing things properly''.

> But anyway, the only single characters I see that are sort of available
> are 0-4 and b.  Why don't we say `0'.  And we can reserve [5679]z.
> 
> OK? Will that help?

Actually, I'd rather we didn't use `0', because I've taken to using `0'
and `1' for inferior and superior character sets (typically taken from
expert fonts). I use these fonts in setting footnote marks, since they
look slightly better than superscripted numbers (in the same way that
genuine small caps look better than faked small caps).

On this issue too, I'm left wonderinging if there is any standardization
for names. If not, I'd like to suggest we reserve 0 and 1 for this
purpose and use some other letter for scaled variants.

Hilmar Schlegel replied to Karl's message saying:
# Ugh! Why not using design-size appended as common for Tex fonts?

Because, strictly speaking, it isn't the design size. The issue is size
(i.e. xheight & capheight) matching. In a line of 12 point Minion or
Kepler, 12 point Myriad looks oversized and out of place, whereas 11
point Myriad fits well. Thus, it is useful to have an 11/12 scaled Myriad
available so that when TeX asks for 12 point Myriad, it's really getting
11 point.

		(Design size is what size the font designer expected the
		 font to be seen at, and corresponds to optical size in
		 a MM font or optimal size some books on typography).

Thierry Bouche writes:
% if i understood well melissa's question, she needs something for a
% font that is not scaled the same way along the x/y-axis, so here she
% needs an x-designsize + an y- one.

No, I'm afraid you misunderstood. I think that if you want control of
condensed versus extended, you should use a multiple master font that
has a width axis. Plus, the fontname scheme does have letters for
condensed, extended, etc.

Regards,

    Melissa.