[XeTeX] XeTeX: status quo

[Jonathan Kew]

On 13 Mar 2007, at 12:07 am, caapv 208 wrote:

> --- Michael Zedler <michael.zedler at tum.de> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> just installed TeXLive 2007 on my Mac and re-visited
>> XeTeX. Very cool
>> indeed. I just wanted to ask if for the foreseeable
>> future extensions in
>> the areas of
>>   - inclusion of non-font-provided kerning pairs
>> (i.e., if extra kerning
>> pairs can be provided without altering the fonts
>> themselves)
>>   - margin kerning
>>   - font expansion
>
> If you are running 0.997-dev, then you can abuse
> \XeTeXinterchartoks
> So the answer is Yes, Yes, No.

While it's true that you could (ab)use \XeTeXinterchartoks to add  
kerning between particular character pairs, I don't think it would be  
usable for margin kerning; it won't distinguish line edges from word  
edges or other text run breaks within the line. Moreover, it is a  
character-level mechanism that is (deliberately) independent of the  
font in use, which means it really isn't the right way to address  
something as font-specific as kerning.

I'd like to provide a way to add custom kerning (or other  
adjustments) at the font-specific glyph level, but there's nothing in  
place for this yet. The "right" answer, of course, is to get the font  
designer/vendor to fix the kerning in the font itself! :)

On #3, version 0.997 will include the ability to stretch (and slant)  
fonts algorithmically (which of course opens up some typographically  
hideous possibilities -- but there are times when it can be useful!).  
However, it will not do this automatically as part of justification  
(like pdftex), which I guess is what you're asking.

>
>>   - math
>
> See
> http://groups.google.co.jp/group/unimath?lnk=srg
>

Yes; version 0.997 will include support for Unicode math and the use  
of OpenType math fonts such as Cambria Math.

JK