Closed DanielRuf closed 10 years ago
Appreciating a SVG version, too!
@DanielRuf @andi1984 can you both explain why you need the SVG format?
In the meantime you could use the FontSquirrel Generator to get SVG fonts, but fonts in the SVG are deprecated.
@Fitoschido Why should it be deprecated? Are there any reliable sources? edit: found this (if you mean this discussion): https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!topic/blink-dev/pYbbUcYvlYY
but are SVG fonts not better sometimes for example for icon fonts (open format, easy to adjust/change/edit), compression and scalability
What about mobile platforms and other OS? They do not directly support DirectWrite (Windows feature)
@miguelsousa it is an open format which can be edited by any SVG software. Anyway, just was a bit surprised why it is now missing and I saw no official statement.
Also, is this 2.x release the actual webfonts release? Because it is named Fonts only.
@DanielRuf I feel that you still haven't explained why you need SVG files. We stopped including them because all of the desktop & mobile browsers currently in use support either of the other formats (OTF, TTF, WOFF, EOT). These are also better font formats than SVG.
Anyway, just was a bit surprised why it is now missing and I saw no official statement.
That is a good point. I'm sorry that we didn't include a note about it in the blog announcement.
Also, is this 2.x release the actual webfonts release?
Yes, desktop and web fonts are all in there.
@miguelsousa Ok, thanks. So I can use these now for my web projects. How can I use only a subset of the font so it is smaller? Do I have to re-export the source files?
@DanielRuf trimming the source files is a possibility but it's not an easy route because subsetting the kerning data and the OpenType features will be tricky and time consuming. You should instead use a tool like pyftsubset to subset the OTFs or TTFs.
Ok, thanks for the suggestion.
I would appreciate SVG files because WOFF font-rendering for Chrome on Windows is really poor.
@andi1984 you'll have to generate them yourself, sorry. It's very simple if you have the FDK installed; just type the following command in a Terminal/CommandPrompt window:
tx -svg SourceSansPro-Regular.otf SourceSansPro-Regular.svg
@andi1984 We stopped supporting SVG fonts on Typekit as well. It is not a good idea to use SVG fonts for improved font rendering for Chrome on Windows; while the rendering quality may be slightly better, SVG fonts do not include any of the other features that make a font a font, such as kerning, advanced positioning, ligatures, etc. Chrome 37 (which is scheduled for release within the next couple weeks) will include DirectWrite support, and will massively improve the rendering quality on Windows. For these reasons we discourage the use of SVG fonts.
@miguelsousa
are there some recipes for creating a specific subset eg for a language? It seems the new release does not support different subsets for languages like the releases before or am I wrong?
@DanielRuf I don't understand your question. Our releases have always been whole fonts, not subsets. Could you be confused with the ability of subsetting fonts that webfont services (e.g. Typekit, Google Fonts) provide?
@miguelsousa Websites like FontSquirrel (seems the license does not allow them to create the subsets which is not so great) and others provided some subsets for specific languages. Are there somewhere instructions for creating them?
Because using the complete fonts or just some styles is just too much data for a website (130KB - 280KB in size, italic styles are smaller).
So I have to setup all these tools (which is complicated?) and build my own subset? Do you know some recipes or guides for specific languages what has to be changed or added to the specific language subset?
Are there somewhere instructions for creating them?
I already mentioned pyftsubset
above. For instructions you'll have to read its manual.
So I have to setup all these tools (which is complicated?) and build my own subset?
It depends. There are webfont services that can provide you with subsetting options. If that doesn't suit you, or if you want to self-host the fonts then, yes, you'll have to roll out your own solution.
Do you know some recipes or guides for specific languages what has to be changed or added to the specific language subset?
That's a loaded question, and also quite convoluted, but the answer is basically no.
Okay, thanks so far.
Is this release just a patch/update or a complete release of the fonts? Because the SVG font is now missing.