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SamClercky / Dyxitool

A Firefox and Chrome extension that makes it easier for people with dyslexia
https://samclercky.github.io/Dyxitool/
GNU General Public License v2.0
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Support Microsoft 'Fluent' fonts & OpenType Stylistic Alternates? #4

Open no-identd opened 4 years ago

no-identd commented 4 years ago

Microsoft offers a bunch of fonts aimed at people with Dyslexia, here:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=50721

I don't have Dyslexia, but DO have a highly complex vision disorder. I strongly prefer "Fluent Calibri" over any of the other fonts aimed at people with Dyslexia & other visual processing issues. However, to actually make Fluent Calibri usable requires one additional tweak:

Changing the OpenType stylistic alternate setting to "4", as this causes the lowercase 'g' to get rendered as a non-'storied' variety.

Any way you could add support for both this font and that setting? Note that I use Firefox on Android (I already have a solution for Firefox on other operating systems, mostly…)

SamClercky commented 4 years ago

Looks like a nice feature to have and I will look into it. I will post more progress here.

UPDATE 1: The addition of other fonts is a nice idea, but it will hard to implement due to the legal incompatibility between GPLv2 (Dyxitool's license) and the licenses of Microsoft. A possible solution would be to restrict the "Fluent"-fonts to devices where the font is pre-installed, but such a solution brings by itself other more technical problems since their is no straight forward web-API for checking if a font is pre-installed on a system. This feature can still happen but probably not with Microsoft-products. UPDATE 2: Since no one seems to disagree with the last proposal, I will start development in version 1.3. This release will probably be scheduled around the summer.

no-identd commented 4 years ago

Pretty sure that license incompatibility doesn't exist, at least not in the way described, since we're talking about assets loaded at run time, not binary code. However, there might exist other license issues, I haven't bothered to check whether the MS license permits redistribution and/or rehosting. (To pull it in remotely, in case the license bans active redistribution but not passive. Although, worst case, one could perhaps pull the zip from MS directly and extract it, on first run?)

SamClercky commented 4 years ago

At this moment I see a few ways this feature could be implemented.

1) Supply a copy of the Fluent fonts in the binary of the extension (not allowed by MS) 2) Only referencing the font with CSS a) There could be a copy on a webserver, but I do not have the resources to rent a license or to rent a server, nor do I know of a server that could provide such a service. b) Expect the end-user to have the font installed on their own device (most possible solution)

Another problem we might need to face is that I am not sure if it is allowed to just download the font on a user's device upon first run (trademarks and such).

My idea: Allow the end-user to choose a font installed on their device through a second setting screen (writing the font name in a text bar and referencing the name in CSS).

Advantages

Possible problems

This second screen would also host the OpenType-settings, but I am thinking to even add them all (or at least more than 1). This would be put under an advanced section to minimize confusen for newcomers.

PS. Link to FAQ of licenses for the MS-fonts: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/fonts/font-faq