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From: prc@erbe.se (Robert Claeson)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript
Subject: Re: Why are postscript fonts so tight?
Summary: PostScript has hooks for your own kerning routines
Message-ID: <751@maxim.erbe.se>
Date: 30 Jun 89 16:30:57 GMT
References: <1974@bunyip.cc.uq.OZ> <2285@basser.oz>
Reply-To: rclaeson@erbe.se (Robert Claeson)
Organization: Bonzo Fan Club
Lines: 17

In article <2285@basser.oz> jaa@basser.oz (James Ashton) writes:

>The main reason is that PostScript does no kerning.  Each character has
>a width and is printed using its width all the time in ignorance of
>the adjoining characters.
.....

>it's not really PostScript that is at fault here, only its
>font dictionaries and associated machinery.  It would be quite possible
>to implement kerning in PostScript with sufficient printer resources.

PostScript has the hooks neccesary for implementing various types of
kerning. Look up the ashow, awidthshow and kshow operators in the
Reference Manual. The green book ("PostScript Language Program Design")
has a chapter devoted to setting text and performing things like kerning.
Take a close look at chapter 7.6, titled "Kerning and Ligatures". That
should be the info needed for most implementors of kerning.