Re: [csswg-drafts] [css-fonts-4] [varfont] access to named instances

Relating this back to my STAT table issue #539: It would be helpful to
 leverage the STAT table to provide names that we can use in font 
properties.

Context (so we're all on the same page):
- The fvar table in a variable font defines a set of named instances 
that are equivalent to a font. E.g. "Condensed Bold". These could be 
used as in both the above proposals
- The STAT table defines a set of named points along each axis. You 
can think of these as click stops on each axis. E.g. "Normal" and 
"Condensed" on the width axis, and "Semilight" and "Bold" on the 
weight axis. This is handy not only for being able to parse names in 
the fvar table into their components, but for addressing instances 
(even those that may not be listed as a named instance in the table).

Thus, for a family with weight and width axes, the STAT table might 
define points for "Light", "Semilight", "Regular", "Semibold", and 
"Bold" on the weight axis, and "Condensed", "Semi-Condensed", 
"Normal", "Wide", and "Super Wide" for the width axis. Then, the fvar 
would define instances as follows:
- "Light Condensed"
- "Semilight Condensed"
- "Condensed"
- ...
- "Bold Super Wide"

Note that fvar need not define all the possible permutations described
 in STAT, so you may have some interesting instances in the font that 
aren't listed in fvar. 

Ok, so on to my proposal:
1) Allow STAT defined names in standard font properties. E.g.:
`font-weight: "Semi-condensed";
font-stretch: "Super Wide";`

2) Allow STAT defined names in the second proposal above. E.g.:
`   src: url("MyVariableFamily.woff#Semilight+Ultra-Wide");`

or maybe
`   src: url("MyVariableFamily.woff?wght=Semilight&wdth=Ultra-Wide");`

Obviously, if all font designers list all the permutations of STAT in 
named instances in fvar, then the @font-face src proposal isn't very 
interesting. The proposal for using names in font properties is the 
main one I'm interested in.


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Received on Thursday, 15 December 2016 00:24:37 UTC