[OpenFontLibrary] Open Font Library Podcast: Dev Talk #1

[Behdad Esfahbod]

On 06/03/2009 03:28 PM, Ed Trager wrote:

>> Fontaine also overlaps with fontconfig and
>> pango in huge parts.
>
> I'm not as convinced that fontaine overlaps so extensively with
> fontconfig.  The way orthographies are grouped in fontaine is quite
> different than in fontconfig.
>
> The treatment of Japanese illustrates the difference well:  Fontaine
> breaks up "Japanese" into a set of categories that are meaningful to
> Japanese people: Jinmeiyo, Joyo, and Kokuji represent different
> classes of Kanji, and then there is of course a separate group for
> kana (hiragana, katakana).  For a typographer working to produce a
> Japanese font, being able to generate a report where things are
> organized into these groupings makes sense.  Fontconfig on the other
> hand --correct me if I am wrong-- has a single grouping for "Japanese"
> orthography, which lumps all the Kanji and kana.  This is just one
> example.  There are differences in the approach fontaine takes for
> other orthographies as well.
>
> Overall, the general distinction is that fontaine uses
> orthographic-centric groupings that are intended to be most relevant
> to fonts and digital type design.  As I understand it, fontconfig uses
> language-centric groupings.
>
> There is of course nothing wrong with fontconfig's approach -- or, for
> that matter, with Fontaine's approach.  They simply serve different
> purposes.

I understand the difference.  I'm not saying that the code that is out there 
overlaps necessarily, but, my point is, there is a HUGE overlap in *scope*. 
Very simple: If you need some code in font website, changes are very high that 
you need the same code in your font dialog or font preview applications too. 
So, I want to understand these needs such that we design a consistent, usable, 
experience on the web as well as on the application level.

Cheers,
behdad