Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!unix.cis.pitt.edu!djbpitt
From: djbpitt@unix.cis.pitt.edu (David J Birnbaum)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms
Subject: Re: converting fonts to Windows format
Keywords: converting fonts windows format
Message-ID: <38248@unix.cis.pitt.edu>
Date: 14 Sep 90 16:35:28 GMT
References: <37185@ut-emx> <16044@thorin.cs.unc.edu>
Reply-To: djbpitt@unix.cis.pitt.edu (David J Birnbaum)
Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh, Comp & Info Services
Lines: 43

The recent discussion of tricks for adding additional fonts raises an
old question: are there any outline font editors out there that work
with any of the industry standard outlines (Adobe, Compugraphic,
Bitstream, or what have you).

I edit medieval Slavic manuscripts and I am painfully aware that no
major type foundry is going to produce the fonts that I need.  And
please don't tell me that certain companies have Russian (or even
Old Church Slavonic) fonts; real Slavists need lots of characters
that aren't in the handbooks.  I also need the ability to add a
character when appropriate; if I am editing a manuscript with a
nonce ligature that I choose to represent as a single character, I
need to be able to add that character.

At the moment I use exclusively bitmapped fonts, since good editing
tools are available.  When I last checked for outline font editors,
all I could find was ZSoft's Publisher's Typefoundry.  At least at
that time, this product could only edit outline fonts in ZSoft's
proprietary format, which no word processing or typesetting software
could use.  You could use these outlines to generate bitmapped fonts,
but that isn't what I wanted them for.  Bitstream does have an out-
line editor, but it is intended for OEMs, is laughably expensive for
an end user who wants it to customize only his own configuration, and
Bitstream, when I spoke with them last year, was not interested in
producing an editor for end users.

I am aware that Altsys makes an outline editor for the Mac, but when
I asked whether they had plans to produce a similar product for MS-DOS
they said absolutely not, explaining that in their offices "IBM" only
stands for "I bought MacIntosh."

So ... are there new font editors on the market?  What does the future
look like for people whose needs aren't met by canned fonts?  I don't
need 35 (or 135) typefaces of the same Latin alphabet character set; I
need more characters.

Please reply by email and I will post a summary in a couple of weeks
(assuming there are any responses).  Thanks,

David
===========================================================
David J. Birnbaum          djb@wjh12.harvard.edu [Internet]
                           djb@harvunxw.bitnet   [Bitnet]