[Fontinst] title graphic

[Lars Hellström]

At 19.52 +0200 2005-06-15, Stephan Hennig wrote:
>Hi,
>
>when I had to install my first fonts recently I took a look at the
>fontinst documentation. Which let me cringe---not fontinst but the
>arrows in the title graphic of the manual.

Upon comparison, I see what you mean.

>I'd like to contribute my attempt to provide a better graphic. The
>differences to the original are:
>
>(i) Dimensions are smaller by 1mm, both horizontally and vertically.

I wouldn't have noticed.

>(ii) Due to MetaObj

Yes, that could be an issue. The MP code looks like it depends on a rather
high  level tool, and it feels a bit like this high level setting
contributes to the code complexity as much as the actual content of the
illustration. Would it be much difficult to make use of e.g. the boxes.mp
macros to draw the same picture?

>the nodes aren't transparent but have a white background.

Good or bad? I'm undecided -- on one hand it could be a help for people who
want to put it on top of a coloured background, but on the other it is an
unexpected complication.

>(iii) Instead of Helvetica and Palatino URW clones are used.

For the metrics, you mean? (The actual fonts used will be whatever the PS
interpreter uses for Helvetica and Palatino-Italic anyway.) Is there even
any difference? (If they're clones, then there shouldn't be any, eh?)

>(iv) File sizes of eps and pdf file more than doubled.

That's hardly a problem.

>If any of the above is a problem, please let me know. Since I'm using a
>developer version of MetaObj with some bug fixes I attached sources and
>eps|pdf.

Providing ready-made EPS and PDF is a good idea when presenting pictures
like this, even if they're made using totally standard tools.

None of the above is a show-stopper, and since there hasn't been any source
for this picture before, this is a clear step forward. Would you be
prepared to contribute this to the fontinst distribution? (Or to state it
more legally: Do you permit licensing this under the LPPL?)

Lars Hellström