[Openfontlibrary] new release of the Ubuntu titling font

[Gustavo Ferreira]

On 02/01/2008, at 07:53, Nicolas Spalinger wrote:

> Jon Phillips wrote:
>> Cool...can you bring them into the fold and/or work with them to  
>> release
>> this all into the public domain or under OFL?
>>
>> Cool! I think it would be great to get more of these fonts added  
>> to our
>> site as well, and we can help to promote them!
>>
>> Jon
>
> Yep, impressive work on the new release.
> And notice how font sources (FontLab) and the build script are also
> released. A very good sign :)

yes, it is important to note that designers don't need to work  
exclusively with free tools to collaborate with free software projects.

the build script is not functional, since it uses functions from a  
module which is not publicly available. nothing that prevents anyone  
from working on the font using his own tools though.

> I'm re-contacting upstream - The Ubuntu/Canonical folks - to advocate
> officially hosting the "trunk" and the related project information
> somewhere (OFLB?) and allowing for the various interesting branches  
> out
> there to be known and possibly merged back. A source repository and a
> FONTLOG are really needed IMHO. Of course I'll promote collaborative
> design through the OFL instead of the LGPL which is much more  
> adapted to
> fonts not to mention readability.

i don't think any of this is necessary to guarantee more work on the  
font. quite the opposite – it obscures type-design issues with  
technical complications, making it more difficult for designers to  
participate.

more important, in my oppinion, would be to get ressources and pay  
christian (or another *skilled* type-designer) for continuing the  
work on the font.

> Andy Fitzsimon as the original designer was willing to relicense so  
> that
> his project can be community-maintained (AFAICT he is not  
> maintaining it
> anymore). IIRC Dennis Jacquerye was working on improving it at some
> point as well.
>
> This font is also linked to the visual identity of various products  
> and
> also Ubuntu's trademark so it needs discussion by the copyright  
> holder.
>
> I'll let you know what is being decided.
>
> Cheers,
>
> -- 
> Nicolas Spalinger


cheers,
- gustavo.