[Fontconfig] [RFC] target font model on Freedesktop systems

[Lawrence D'Oliveiro]

On Thu, 25 Jul 2019 06:53:47 +0200, Nicolas Mailhot wrote:

> Variable fonts are just a generalization of the process which has been
> used to generate all the faces possible in WWS fonts.

It is worth distinguishing between the font design process, and the
font rendering process. You might indeed use parametric tools in the
former, but expecting end users to understand it in the latter seems to
be a non-starter. Adobe had Multiple Masters back in the 1990s.
But it appears all support for that has been removed from their apps.

I found this interview
<https://www.typotheque.com/articles/typeface_as_programme_peter_bilak>
from nearly a decade ago, that seems to sum up the situation nicely.