[XeTeX] Bug in fontspec's \newfontfamily?

[David Perry]

Thank you Arthur.  I'm embarrassed to say that I read section 3.2 
multiple times before sending my email, but somehow the main point did 
not really sink in.  (The information is there, but I think it could be 
a bit clearer for non-programmers; in any case, I get it now!)

David


Arthur Reutenauer wrote:
>> Is there any reason why the following code works as it does?  The fontspec 
>> docs do not say that a shorthand name is required with the \newfontfamily 
>> and \newfontface commands (and I would not expect such a requirement)
> 
>   Yes, it does, in section 3.2 of the manual (v1.18): \newfontfamily, as
> opposed to \fontspec, creates instances of a font that can be reused
> throughout the document.  The first argument to \newfontfamily is the
> macro name, that can then be invoked to trigger the font change.
> Usually, you would define all these macros in a single place, and use
> them where appropriate in your document.
> 
>   What you seem to be wanting in your example file is the \fontspec
> command, which saves you the trouble of defining a macro if you only
> want to use some font once; but it's inefficient if you're going to use
> that font several times (XeTeX needs to query the system libraries to
> look it up, etc.), which is why \newfontfamily is recommended.
> 
> 	Arthur
> 
>