Re: [Devel] Using freetype "characters" for window decorations

[Vadim Plessky]

On Saturday 16 November 2002 11:37 am, Otto Wyss wrote:
|  > |  I've started participating in the wxWindows project (wxUniversal
|  > | port) since I'm looking for a true portable programming framework. Now
|  > | for the window decorations (like close box, scroll arrows, etc.) there
|  > | are still bitmaps images used which of course aren't portable (at
|  > | least not for PC's and PDA's). So I thought if the decorations are
|  > | defined in an useable outline format this limitation would vanish.
|  >
|  > Such usable format is SVG, in my opinion.
|
|  Isn't there any freetype people interested in this subject? What do they
| think about my idea and about Vadim's sugestion?

If you want Black-and-White (mono) rendering for Window Decoirations, than you 
can use just FreeType2.
Otherwise, you will have to do color rendering on your own.
Note that it's not necessary to parse XML files (SVG is XML) for your kind of 
application. You can put all elements "inline" (in C/C++ code) or use some 
streamlined format, instead of XML (check, for example Image Magick's MVG)

A lot of things also depend on *size* of your Window Decorations, and 
*complexity* of those decorations.
For example, I hardly imagine that you can get good rendering for 16x16 
colorful SVG icon (at least, I am not aware about renderer capable to do it)
KInd of problems you get here is similiar to rendering of glyphs at 6pt-14pt 
point sizes.  You need some kind of *hinting* to support rendering at small 
sizes.  AFAIK, there is no hinting presnet in SVG specs.
So, if color is not important for you - it's betetr to go with FreeType, as 
you will get hinting *for free*.

On the other hand, you cantry to tweak SVG renderer so that it will do (at 
least) grid-fitting at small sizes.

|
|  O. Wyss
|
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-- 

Vadim Plessky
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