[XeTeX] Devanagari in FreeSerif

[Zdenek Wagner]

2012/1/6 Steve White <stevan.white at googlemail.com>:
> Hi Zdenek,
>
> On Fri, Jan 6, 2012 at 6:57 PM, Zdenek Wagner <zdenek.wagner at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 2012/1/6 Zdenek Wagner <zdenek.wagner at gmail.com>:
>>> 2012/1/6 Steve White <stevan.white at googlemail.com>:
>>>>
>>> I did not know that FreeSans and FreeSerif contain contain Devanagari.
>>> The fonts were installed with my Linux distribution thus I will try to
>>> make some tests.
>>>
>>
>> FreeSans looks weli in my computer but FreeSerif is totally broken,
>> probably all the GPOS tables for Devanagari are missing. However, my
>> Linux is very old, I will try to find a new version of the fonts
>>
> I see it now.
>
> Please submit a bug report, explaining Devanagari in Serif has
> inadequate look-ups, and compare it to FreeSans.
> (They would be GSUB tables, by the way.)
>
In the meantime I found that the font came with TeX Live, not with
Linux. Anyway, I have downloaded the latest version and will try it.
As I see it now, I think that both GSUB and GPOS tables are missing.

> It's amazing I missed this so long, but I don't have many tests for Devanagari/
> There is a single lookup in Serif for that script with a single
> ligature.  I remember wondering about that single glyph, but it had a
> funny name, and maybe I never researched it.
> I don't see any other glyphs for ligatures for the range.  It looks bad.
>
> It may be the lookups were inserted but somehow deleted.  I'll check.
> Otherwise, I may have to delete the Devanagari range from FreeSerif.
>
> The story is: almost a decade ago, there was a period of enthusiastic
> addition to FreeFont, unfortunately with limited guidelines.  Several
> non-functional ranges were included.  We have since cleaned up most of
> these problems, but clearly some remain.
>
> The only other possibility is that I find the source for this range,
> and it includes the  ligated glyphs already.  Then it is just a matter
> of a *couple of weeks* of work.  Otherwise I'll be forced to delete
> the range in Serif.
>
>> Before reporting I would like to ask one question. In all Devanagari
>> fonts I have ever seen the long independent A (U+0906) looks
>> graphicaly as if short independent A (U+0905) was followed by long A
>> matra (U+093E). In FrreSerif and FreeSans the vertical stems in the
>> long independent A are too close to each other. When looking to the
>> text it is not well readable. Is this just my feeling or should I
>> report it as a bug?
>>
> Please report that as a separate bug.
>
> If you could provide me an image of text you judge to be better, with
> the same text encoded in Unicode, that would be great!
> I can easily fix such an individual problem if the range is otherwise working.
>
I have enough Hindi texts for testing it will be pleasure for me to help.

> Thanks hugely!
>
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Jan 4, 2012 at 5:59 AM, bhutex <bhutex at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> Following Unicode free fonts are available for Hindi/Devnagari :
>>>>>
>>>>> Akshar Unicode - not beautiful
>>>>> Chandas - Full font, not only devnagari but all characters needed for
>>>>> typesetting vedas etc.
>>>>> Uttara - Probably a variant of Chandas
>>>>> Nakula and Sahedava - Twin fonts
>>>>> FreeSans - it has Devnagari but not fully working for example फ्र etc. are
>>>>> not coming properly
>>>>> Osha -
>>>>> Guruma -
>>>>> Siddhanta - It has variants like Siddhanta 1, Siddhanta 2, Chakravat,
>>>>> Chakravat 2
>>>>> Calcutta , Calcutta1, Calcutta 2, Vyakaran and Nepali
>>>>> Sanskrit2003
>>>>> AA-NagariShri
>>>>>
>>>>> In addition some fonts are available on the Govt. of India's Ministry of
>>>>> Information Technology website (around 50 fonts (including Bold, Italic,
>>>>> Bold Italic)) fromC-DAC etc. organizations. But these fonts also have some
>>>>> problem Just like FreeSans.
>>>>>
>>>>> The fonts mentioned above (for dictionary type work) are sufficient. C-DAC
>>>>> fonts are mostly decorative fonts.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Happy TeXing
>>>>> The BHU TeX Group
>>>>> क्या आप यह देख पा रहें हैं।
>>>>> इस का मतलब आप का कम्प्यूटर यूनीकोड
>>>>> को समझती है। देर किस बात की हिन्दी मे
>>>>> चिठ्ठियां लिखिये।
>>>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Zdeněk Wagner
>> http://hroch486.icpf.cas.cz/wagner/
>> http://icebearsoft.euweb.cz
>>
>>
>>
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-- 
Zdeněk Wagner
http://hroch486.icpf.cas.cz/wagner/
http://icebearsoft.euweb.cz