[XeTeX] \font syntax

[Taco Hoekwater]

Jonathan Kew wrote:
> On 31 Jul 2007, at 12:00 pm, Hans Hagen wrote:
> 
>> well, sslt____.ttf is as cryptic -) (Serpentine)
> 
> Yes indeed -- which is (one reason) why XeTeX allows (no, expects!)  
> you to call it "Serpentine". :)
> 
> Users shouldn't ever have to see things like sslt____.ttf or rm- 
> lmr7.otf; the fonts have names like "Serpentine" or "Latin Modern".  
> (Actually, the naming structure of the LM fonts needs review, but I  
> haven't had the chance to think it all through properly.)
> 
>> i guess that the danger of clash is minimal
> 
> Unfortunately, I've seen real-life clashes. Some people have tfms  
> with names like Helvetica.tfm or Times.tfm. And some people have  
> installed fonts with names like "CMR10".
> 
>> but why not use the 'tfm search' as a fallback then? if a "name"  
>> cannot
>> be resolved, search for a tfm one instead
> 
> As I mentioned, XeTeX used to do this, but I'm not entirely convinced  
> it's a good idea. E.g., error messages may be less confusing if it's  
> clear which kind of font (or search) is being requested. But I'm  
> interested to hear what people think.... anyone else with opinions on  
> this?

How about supporting explicit types then, by actually using the filename
extension (that traditional tex ignores) ?

   \font\myfont      = ec-lmr10.tfm
   \font\myotherfont = ssft____.ttf
   \font\mythirdfont = "Serentine"

Cheers,
Taco