[XeTeX] \XeTeXuseglyphmetrics (was Re: Re: [OS X TeX] gtamacfonts ligatures: PDF searchability)

[Jonathan Kew]

On 17 May 2006, at 11:14 pm, Will Robertson wrote:
> On 18/05/2006, at 3:55 , Jonathan Kew wrote:
>
>> A question: should \XeTeXuseglyphmetrics=1 be set in xetex.fmt and
>> xelatex.fmt as a default, do you think?
>
> I vote for enabling it by default to more accurately match what TeX
> does and to get better results. \lineskiplimit problems have caused a
> fair amount of confusion in the past. If it takes longer to process,
> then so be it. Backwards compatibility problems are (a) easy to fix,
> and (b) explainable by saying "XeTeX isn't v1 yet :)".

On 18 May 2006, at 8:59 am, Bruno Voisin wrote:
[snip]
> In any case, count me in for \XeTeXuseglyphmetrics=1 as the default.

That was my inclination too, though I suspect it will have a wide  
impact on existing documents -- there will be a tightening of  
vertical spacing in many cases, as XeLaTeX reverts to the  
\baselineskip that's specified by the document class, rather than  
using the nominal ascent and descent of the font in conjunction with  
\lineskip. I think that has been happening in very many cases,  
whether or not users were aware of it.

Anyhow, I've just made the changes in my sources, so this will be the  
default setting in the next update I ship -- I'd better put a  
prominent note on the web page at that time!

JK