Re: Using Computer Modern in Lout - some final questions

[Clint Olsen]

> By the time you have converted your font to an AFM file, it is no longer a
> 10p font.  The AFM format describes the abstract shapes of the glyphs
> without specifying any particular font size.  There is a convention that a
> length of 1000 in the AFM file represents the font size; but it does not
> represent any *particular* font size.
 
Ok, so why then do they bother creating all these various AFM files
corresponding to different sizes from Metafont?  Is it because the font
characteristics don't scale optically and vary with different sizes?

> Well, I think this is a matter of opinion.  I personally don't like
> Computer Modern at all.
 
Yeah, I realize it's a matter of taste.

> Probably not for Lout.  Do you know of other systems that make it easier to
> add fonts?  How do they make it easier?

At first I thought you were joking, and now I'm not so sure.  I think
dragging or copying TTF or OTF files to a Fonts directory is far easier
than:

1) Duking it out with fontdefs.ld and trying to understand exactly how
   these fields correspond to what Lout wants to see.

2) Having to generate PFA files which other tools require and making sure
   the filenames match whatever was in the AFM file.

3) Having to run includeres on the resultant output of Lout in order to
   actually get the font content included in any output downstream.

I was going to write a script that automatically generated a fontdef entry
given an AFM file, but I don't actually think it's very straightforward
when you consider fonts like Computer Modern that were generated based on
sizes in the original form.

If I have access to Adobe Font Folio, am I supposed to generate those
fontdef entries by hand?  There are over 2000 fonts alone in TrueType and
OpenType format.

Thanks,

-Clint

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