Re: font formats and SVG2

I'm with the "Keep it" fraction. Especially the ability to access every 
single font property in the Javascript DOM is extremely tempting; not 
for long texts or even books, but for something, that could be called 
"multimedia font". Such a font could, e.g., interact with the user at 
runtime, which is almost impossible with OpenType (apart from 
manipulating OTF features).

Cheers,
Manuel

Am 02.03.2011 13:59, schrieb Jeremie Patonnier:
> Hello
>
> I strongly agreed with Dr. Hoffmann and Andreas
>
> I recently write a little about that topic : 
> http://jeremie.patonnier.net/post/2011/02/07/Why-are-SVG-Fonts-so-different
>
> Hope that help to understand why SVG fonts does not have the same 
> purpose as OTF/WOFF fonts.
>
> Cheers
> Jérémie
>
> 2011/3/2 Andreas Neumann <a.neumann@carto.net 
> <mailto:a.neumann@carto.net>>
>
>     well explained - Olaf.
>
>     I second your argument. SVG fonts are important and will hopefully
>     be implemented in all browsers. It is a hen and egg problem.
>     Currently, only Batik, Opera and Webkit-based browsers support SVG
>     fonts (only the version with the d-attribute). The market share of
>     these browsers may be around 15-25 percent. The larger market
>     share does not support SVG fonts. No wonder that SVG fonts are not
>     widely used.
>
>     If SVG fonts are implemented beyond just the d-attribute (such as
>     it is the case in Alex'/Abbra implementation) it opens a lot of
>     additional options:
>
>     * Multicolor fonts
>     * fonts with patterns
>     * fonts with multimedia
>     * fonts with animation
>
>     It is also true, what Olaf explained, that in SVG a content author
>     often just needs a subset instead of a complete font. The
>     possibility to add just certain glyphs into or linked to a
>     document allows for smaller file sizes than just linking to a full
>     ttf/otf/woff or whatever font.
>
>     Just my opinion as a content author,
>     Andreas
>
>
>
>     On Wed, 2 Mar 2011 12:55:53 +0100, Dr. Olaf Hoffmann wrote:
>
>         John Daggett:
>
>             Can someone explain what the features are that are not
>             offered in TrueType
>             fonts?
>
>
>         I think, the possibility to embed SVG fonts within a graphics
>         (SVG document)
>         is an important feature for authors, as soon as this is widely
>         implemented.
>         The glyphs can be created with features from SVG, no need to
>         learn yet
>         another format not much related to the graphical problem, the
>         authors has,
>         if just a few glyphs are needed for a logo or something like that.
>         SVG fonts help to keep things simple for authors, especially
>         for those not
>         very interested in creating complete fonts for general use,
>         but just some
>         glyphs for a special purpose.
>         If the glyph information is directly embedded in the SVG
>         document, it is
>         simply possible to provide standalone documents with
>         predictable behaviour
>         for the presentation of the glyphs.
>         To assume that referenced external fonts in another format are
>         always
>         available is risky and I think it will not be acceptable for
>         some designers
>         with a quite detailed opinion about the appearance of their
>         graphics and
>         how to control this on their own.
>
>         Of course, other font formats will be typically pretty useful
>         for documents
>         with mainly text (XHTML etc). A detailed control about the
>         appearance
>         of a glyph it typically not so important for the author of
>         such text
>         documents
>         as for some text within an SVG document with close relation to
>         other
>         graphical content.
>
>         If such an SVG font feature is not available or only optional
>         or not widely
>         implemented, authors will use the path element for this
>         purpose and the
>         text information will not survive. This happens already know,
>         because
>         SVG font implementations in some widely used viewers is not
>         very good
>         or not available at all.
>         What remains is pure graphics with no more textual, accessible
>         information
>         in it. If SVG fonts work, at least some of those authors can
>         be convinced to
>         provide accessible documents and not just colorful decorative
>         graphics.
>         Therefore it is important to have such a feature to help
>         authors to provide
>         more meaningful documents.
>
>         Olaf
>
>
>     -- 
>     --
>     Andreas Neumann
>     Böschacherstrasse 10A
>     8624 Grüt (Gossau ZH)
>     Switzerland
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Jeremie
> .............................
> Web : http://jeremie.patonnier.net <http://jeremie.patonnier.net/>
> Twitter : @JeremiePat <http://twitter.com/JeremiePat>