- From: <glen@met.bitstream.com>
- Date: Tue, 06 Feb 96 21:55:46 est
- To: david@dsiegel.com, www-font@w3.org
- Cc: james@met.bitstream.com, johnc@met.bitstream.com, johns@met.bitstream.com, admin@verso.com, ray@met.bitstream.com, glen@met.bitstream.com
Dear David and Hussein, Yes we are Font Fanatics. Information below is in response to your great fonts page "fonts.verso.com". I'll try to make one response per issue. Glen Rippel Font Embedding: 1. TrueType fonts contain embedable status bits and only they should be used to dynamically make decisions if a font can be embedded or accessed remotely. 2. Type 1 fonts from foundries are sold with licensing models that are all over the map. Some allow for embedding of fonts for viewing only, some allow for viewing and printing, and some do not allow either. The point is that there is no embedding status data contained in Type1 fonts that can be used by authoring and viewing software to make these important legal decisions. 3. Subsetting a font to include only the necessary characters is a good idea only if done carefully. Removing characters and maintaining the original font format, name, and hint data clearly violates most font foundries software licenses. The only legal method we know is to allow the font to be executed by the font scaler, refit the curves, and recast the data into a neutral non-infringing data type. Further, just because TrueType fonts may allow one to embed the font, it is important to note that the font foundry did not give the rights to disassemble the fonts or subset the fonts. Our goal should be to make it easy for the surfer to view a document with the font fidelity they would like. If they wish to view the content without font fidelity that should be their choice. If they would like to have full font fidelity and take the download hit, they should have this choice also. These choices could be set within the preferences of the browsers, very similar to turning graphics on or off. As far a font publishers selling fonts or giving them away for free that should be the publishers choice and should not be a consideration. Our goal should be to specify a clean and legally safe method for selecting font fidelity. Font Embedding Proposal modification: Adobe's scheme for embedding fonts in PDF files may seem good, but it done without regard to the end-users licensing rights granted by the font foundry. We purpose that authoring software fully execute the font programs and cast the data into a non-infringing data structure. At this point, links to the font fragments or embedding of the neutral font data is safe and secure. Browser and authoring developers can control how fonts behave within their applications, and should feel secure that the specifications and technology are legally sound. Direct rasterization at high speed or on-demand generation of TrueType or Type1 fully hinted font formats with temporary install for printing and viewing would be ideal. Also anti-alias support would be a definite plus. TrueDoc is the only font technology designed with all of these factors taken into consideration. Surfers get the level of font fidelity they desire. Authors get to publish with any fonts they desire. Font Foundries safer and enjoy the larger publisher market.
Received on Wednesday, 7 February 1996 01:55:19 UTC