Re: PDF (was Re: mailing list)

Lee Quinn:
>> Note that some fonts come with a licence that forbids embedding in
>> Acrobat files.

Todd Fahrner:
>This is a very small portion of the fonts in wide commercial use. I know of
>no non-controversial alternatives. Do you?

Actually, more and more libraries are finding out about the scale of 
embedding risks and are changing their end user licenses to forbid it 
until some reliable technology comes around. The FontShop library, 
FontFonts and Emigre's typefaces, and many other smaller foundries are 
making clear statements about what can and cannot be done.

Adobe might be the only one left allowing embedding of their own fonts. I 
wonder what their relationship with their licensees is. How Linotype and 
Monotype think about Adobe giving permission to the everybody to start 
broadcasting their fonts. There must be some tension there.

Maybe there are no non-controversial alternatives right now. That does 
not mean they cannot be developed, and it does not mean that it is ok to 
give in to free fonts for everybody.
There are some possibilities to work with until something really usefull 
comes along. For instance the truetype part of opentype can be used to 
embed bitmapped versions of the letters, and perhaps some cooperation 
between some extra embedding bits and authoring software could allow only 
the bitmaps to be embedded in the document, if the typefoudnry has 
instructed the fonts to do so. This might help control the problem some, 
it is not a solution.

I know from many discussions on this list in the past that the idea of 
bitmapped fonts online is not seen very favourably, compared to quality 
and flexibility of embedding outline fonts. But in the end it depends on 
what the type foundries are _willing_ to permit what can be done with 
their typefaces, and bitmaps might actually be all they will allow for 
the time being.



erik van blokland, LettError: Typestuff
      letterror  http://www.letterror.com
      fontfonts  http://www.fontfont.de
NEW!  typelab    http://www.typelab.org

Received on Friday, 8 November 1996 05:53:06 UTC