Re: font formats and SVG2

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>

> 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
.............................
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