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From: mayer.WBST128@XEROX.COM
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: what's most important to you for R5?
Message-ID: <900702-133849-339@Xerox>
Date: 2 Jul 90 18:37:36 GMT
Sender: mayer.WBST128@xerox.com
Reply-To: mayer.WBST128@xerox.com
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 50

Here is my list:

(1) A font server protocol that can describe arbitrary scaling and
rotation of fonts.  Even an implementation based on bitmap scaling would
be acceptable.

(2) I would like to be able to access font metrics in sub-pixel units
(1/100 of a point? Whatever AFM's use?) .  Perhaps this could be folded
in with the font server.  I would like to see library support for
writing text with sub-pixel metrics.

(3) Support for properties on different visuals.  My group has a number
of two headed systems and the current way of doing things is not nice.

(4) Convenient support for specifying distances in standard dimensional
units rather than in pixels.  The place where this is most critically
needed is in parsing resources.  The decision to have the protocol deal
with pixels is defensible, but the lack of convenient library support
for inches/cm/points/ems/etc. has led to a really bad situation.  One
possibility would be to extend the current converters to accept
dimensions... this would allow current applications to benefit from
device independent size specifications.

(5) A standard extension for imaging with Redbook + color PostScript. 
This is distinct from NeWS or Display Postscript support.  The intent
would be to support least common denometer (printer) PostScript in an X
window.  Personally, I see no need to supply a PostScript implementation
with this.

(6) I would like to see an extension that supported translating the
source of a graphics operation through a lookup table (software color
map?).  The software color map would allow 8->24 bit data conversion
(very useful with XPutImage, common for gray-scal e images, and
currently very inefficient), and would also support nifty 8->8 bit image
transforms (in conjunction with XCopyArea).

(7) I would like to see support for anti-aliased text and graphics on
color and gray-scale devices.

Note:

Perhaps (1), (2), and (4) could be combined into a device independent
imaging library that supported both an X11 and PostScript back end.  I
think a library of that sort would be extremely useful, particarly in
conjunction with (5).

--- Jim Mayer
                                        Xerox Webster Research Center
Phone: (716) 422-9407  FAX: x2126       800 Phillips Road, 0128-29E
Internet: mayer.wbst128@xerox.com       Webster, New York 14580