Re: Replacement suggestions for Century Schoolbook?

[Werner LEMBERG]

>> What's the difference between `fine' and `laser' printing?
>
> It is a question of the level of detail. If you are making a font
> for laser printers you have to avoid certain characteristics in
> shapes.  The shapes have to be more gross or brutal to reproduce
> well.  If you know you want something to look great in fine print
> (digital and offset can have very similar resolution now) then you
> want to be sure to build in extra nuance to take advantage of the
> medium.  Probably you would want to emphasize one over the other and
> then test to see that the less favored medium produces results that
> are still acceptable.
>
> With laser printing and fine print the distance is far less than
> print and web and so a nice compromise is very reachable.

OK, this is essentially the same as David's reply.

> > The font should cover the most important languages used for
> > `classical' vocal music, especially operas.  This includes
> > Italian, German, French, Czech (e.g. Dvořák), Russian (in
> > Cyrillic), English, probably Hungarian (Bartók).  Today it's
> > common that the original language is typeset in upright shape, and
> > a translation in italic, but sometimes it's vice versa.
> >
> > I've also seen a transliteration (using IPA) instead of a
> > translation, so covering the IPA characters for the above
> > languages would be useful also.
>
> Wow.  This is a large project in terms of glyph coverage then. :-)

It can evolve, starting with Latin-1 & Latin-2, for example.

> You will want someone who is sensitive to Cyrillic to Latin and who
> can manage the difficulties of the dense use of diacritics in Czech
> set which are significant.  Is Polish relevant?

Interestingly, no.  There aren't any Polish operas or famous
`classical' songs I'm aware of.

> What about small caps? Do they matter?

Not really.  Of course it is good to have them, but this is not
essential for the beginning IMHO.  Note that Lilypond currently can't
access OpenType features.

> > It's not clear what exactly you mean with `font for setting
> > music'.  The font used for lyrics essentially doesn't interact
> > with any other font.  Normally, you only see upright and italic.
>
> What I mean is not that the two fonts should mix but if there is a
> font that tends to be used for the score it will have
> characteristics too and so it will be a good idea to design in
> relationship to it.
>
> If there are 3 music fonts that are most likely to be used then the
> new text font should be tested next to all 3.  It is a question
> which is a bit like does this lamp look good next to this chair?
> The two are separate but if you know what the chair is like you can
> better choose the character of the lamp that suits it.  I hope that
> makes sense.

Have a look at the attached image which shows all the necessary fonts.
The `Tempo di Menuetto' font is the lyrics font enlarged, and both
`Servilia' and `Arie' is displayed with completely different fonts.

> > Most important is very good kerning to get optimal legibility with
> > the highest possible density, since lyrics usually need more
> > horizontal space than the associated note heads, so the smaller
> > the needed horizontal extension, the better the layout for the
> > music.
>
> Right - this is why you want a somewhat condensed design as well.
> It might even be a good idea to stipulate that the font should still
> perform well even if it is tracked negatively to -5 or -10 or -15 or
> whatever is typical.  Ideally of course a narrower font won’t need
> that because it will be more efficient.  But it is good to set the
> performance standards at the start!

Well, right now Lilypond's font interface is very primitive, so
tracking or other nifty font features are not supported yet.


    Werner