[Fontconfig] Re: Multi lingual fontconfig names (was [PATCH] Additional vendor string)

[Daichi Kawahata]

On Fri, 25 Feb 2005 21:03:15 -0800
Keith Packard wrote:
 
> Fontconfig transcodes names it finds in TrueType files into UTF-8,
> so everything should be Unicode from the applications perspective.
> If the font is lying about the encoding used in the TrueType file,
> there's not a whole lot FontConfig can do about it.

Is there any possibility the following (Kanji reading: Kyo-ka-sho,
meaning: textbook, font for textbook)

    NtMotoyaKyotai,NTÉÇÉgÉÑã≥â»èë2,NTモトヤ教科書2:familylang=en,ja,ja
    NtMotoyaKyotai,NTÉÇÉgÉÑã≥â»èë2KP,NTモトヤ教科書2KP:familylang=en,ja,ja
    NtMotoyaKyotai,NTÉÇÉgÉÑã≥â»èë2ìôïù,NTモトヤ教科書2等幅:familylang=en,ja,ja

recognize correctly in 2nd name field (don't worry, I can't read
either) with following API

                     FontConfig         GNOME/KDE etc.
    LOCAL FONT ->  FcLocaleToUtf8()  -> High Level API -> USER
    LOCAL FONT <- FcLocaleFromUtf8() <- High Level API <- USER

(in this case, Locale doesn't always make sense though) or using
libiconv? I'd say on a side node, TrueType font (collection) for
Windows would support 95, 98, NT, ME, 2000, XP, and as you know,
Unicode support had started from 98 (not OS level). That means vendor
have reason to use local codeset in family name for 95 support even
if it's a legacy.

In my opinion, there seem certain font vendors (Korean, Taiwan, Mid.
East!? etc.) have own way to name font useful for their customer.

> These three properties indicate the language for the same index in
> the associated family/style/fullname property.

Great, thanks! but well, I'd let you know a exception (Kanji reading:
Ka-kou, meaning: ? Chinese person might know)

    DFGothicP\-W3,ＤＦ華康ゴシック体W3:familylang=en,ja
    ÇcÇeÇoâÿçNÉSÉVÉbÉNëÃW3,ＤＦＰ華康ゴシック体W3,DFPGothicP\-W3:familylang=en,ja,en
    ÇcÇeÇfâÿçNÉSÉVÉbÉNëÃW3,ＤＦＧ華康ゴシック体W3,DFGGothicP\-W3:familylang=en,ja,en

obviously 1st family name (can't read either) of latter 2 variants
have Japanese name (SJIS) while they are tagged with 'en'.

> What we don't have in fontconfig (yet) is any kind of helper
> function to select a name given a set of language tags.  I'd love
> to see suggestions for how that should work posted here.

>From what above cases, as far as familyname is concerned, I must to
get capability to select localized name. What I'd suggest is,

    * Preparing env. variables FC_LANG, FC_CTYPE

      FC_LANG will be affected wherever end-user'll have to see it,
      e.g. terminal, graphical interface (font chooser). It can be
      specified as comma separated list (FC_LANG=ja,zh_tw,ru).

      While FC_CTYPE will be used inter-API, embedded name in the
      document, of course should be 'en'. Multi-lingual conversation
      between low-level function would have bring nightmare *shrug*
      However in the past log, I've read there are fonts have no
      English family name...

Regards,
-- 
Daichi