[Openfontlibrary] Font File Type and Admins?

[Gustavo Ferreira]

hi there,

i use robofab/ufo on my design and production work, so here are some comments to clarify things:

> There are comments indicating that they
> are/were thinking about class based kerning, but no resolution to those
> comments.

classes can be created in robofab/ufo as glyph-groups and are saved in a file called "groups.plist".

(i use fontlab's metrics assistance window to propagate spacing/kerning from key glyph to the other 
group members. for this to work in fontlab it is necessary to name classes and key glyphs in a 
particular way, but this can be done differently via python.)

opentype class-based kerning can be stored with all opentype code in the font.lib (see below).

> UFO has no support for ligatures nor any other substitutions (no GSUB at
> all).

ufo stores opentype features in a dictionary which lives in the lib.plist.

the standard key for the opentype entry is "org.robofab.opentype.features" - see also http://
robofab.org/objects/lib.html.

> UFO appears to support the ttf 'name' table -- but only for one language
> (which to my mind renders this support useless).

this can also be stored in a dictionary in the font.lib.


ufo has limitations, for example lack of support for either ps or tt hints and bitmaps. but then every 
glyph has a lib which can be used to store custom stuff...

for example: i have done a simple script to store fontlab links/hints into glyph libs, and another one 
to read them back. the glif.lib can be used to store many other things.

- - - 

i use fontlab+robofab for designing my fonts. afaik this is the combination of tools used by most 
professional foundries, plus most foundries develop over time their own tools in python and use 
them from inside fontlab.

i have fontforge installed. the grey interface doesn't scare me, but since i am not able to use robofab 
and my own python-tools i haven't been able to switch to fontforge yet.

so here is my feature request: please include support for robofab/python in fontforge! i'm sure i 
wouldn't be the only one switching from fontlab to fontforge if this were available...

best regards,
- gustavo.