Re: [ft-devel] ttfautohint: How to install

[vernon adams]

On 17 Jun 2011, at 19:43, Dave Crossland wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> On 17 June 2011 18:12, vernon adams <address@hidden> wrote:
>> I've carried out some simple tests using ttfautohint with the Ubuntu Font on
>> Win XP & Win7, Chrome12 & Firefox4.
>> The screenshots are at http://code.newtypography.co.uk/
> 
> Awesome! Thanks Vernon!


More tests are needed, i'm doing some. They only need to be simple -e.g.  
'ADHESIONALGURNFACE' & 'adhesionalgurnface' as waterfalls from 6px-44px, 
because as yet we don't know 100% if we won't get the classic wobbly 
overshoots, caps and x-heights at certain sizes.

> 
>> Looks good so far, but i shall test more fonts, particularly a serif and a
>> bold display face. I chose Ubuntu Font as i know it's well documented that
>> Dalton Maag put a lot of professional hours into it's truetype instructions.
> 
> Fascinating. The autohinter produces more compact text horizontally -
> there are often one more line in the Dalton-Maag hand/standard
> hinting, and at 12px the autohinter makes the x-height noticably
> higher. The i dot can be a bit weak compared to D-M, but perhaps they
> are making it a bit heavy.

At 10px the autohinted version is easilly superior imho. The DirectWrite 
renderings in Firefox 4 are prob better too. Some of that will be the inclusion 
of a version1 gasp table replacing ye olde version 0 that Dalton Maag used but 
it's also a good sign that the font is ok hinted. 

The 'stretched' x-height could be a matter of taste, but personally i would 
like to see the autohinter err on the side of less stretching if possible.  A 
gui to visibly tweak the pixel snap zones ;)

> 
> A Verdana comparison would be nice! :)

erm... am i allowed to alter the truetype tables in a Verdana font??


> 
> -- 
> Cheers
> Dave