Re: [SLE] Re: Why no PfaEdit.rpm in 8.1

On Thursday 17 October 2002 12:12 pm, Mike Fabian wrote:

"Steven T. Hatton" writes:

...

I was searching the web for a font creation tool, and came across this:

http://lists.suse.com/archive/m17n/2002-Jul/0016.html

For some reason, that didn't seem to make it into the SuSE Linux 8.1 distribution.

Of course it is in 8.1, it is only missing from the CD sets because of lack of space. Of course it will be in the upcoming FTP version.

I'm just waiting for the day when we get 7 DVDs. :-)

A font editor for outline fonts is a very specialized tool which only very few people need.

Here is the version of PfaEdit which will be in SuSE Linux 8.1 FTP:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/people/mfabian/8.1-i586/PfaEdit-020724-35.i586.rpm ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/people/mfabian/8.1-src/PfaEdit-020724-35.src.rpm

PfaEdit-020910 is already release and I'll update the SuSE package soon.

I don't know how much time I'll be able to spend on this myself, but I'll do my best to advertise its availability. I'm not sure how easy it will be to learn to use. I may be way off about this, but it seems to me that the actual mechanics of creating the fonts could be separated from the technical details in such a way that a non-technical person could be given a tool for creating glyphs, and some instructions which would be very similar to instructions for creating physical fonts. I'm no expert on the subject, but my understanding is that much of the underlying geometry for creating and displaying computer fonts is based on, and mathematically identical to, traditional typsetting. This is not to trivialized the art of typsetting and font creation. I'm just trying to envision a tool that an intelligent schoolgirl with an artistic ability could produce a decent set of fonts without having to worry about a bunch of computer geek stuff. I suspect a good deal of the effectiveness of such a tool would have to do with the quality of the associated documentation. STH -- Hatton's Law: There is only One inviolable Law