ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC34 N0xxx
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC34/WG2 N377
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC34/WG2
Information Technology --
Document Description and Processing Languages
-- Information Presentation
TITLE: |
Japanese activity report on extension to font reference |
SOURCE: |
Toshiya Suzuki/Hiroshima University
|
PROJECT: | |
PROJECT EDITOR: | |
STATUS: | Informal Liaison |
ACTION: | For information |
DATE: | 2010-03-22 |
DISTRIBUTION: | SC34, SC34/WG2 and Liaisons |
REFER TO: | |
REPLY TO: | |
Japanese activity report on extension to font reference
Background
During the investigation on existing implementations of
office documents (Microsoft Office, OpenOffice.org, various
Rich Text editors), Japanese SC34/WG2 committee found that
most office documents and their rendering systems refer
the font resource by its "name". As a result, there are
following problems.
- font "name" is not unique key for font resource
-
Some digital fonts are digitized from existing typeface that
is designed by other companies. When the typeface has a name
given by original designer, there is a possibility that multiple
fonts have same "name" (e.g. MonoType and LinoType have their
own digitized versions of Times Roman, Courier, Helvetica etc).
In the other cases, a font vendor provides same typeface in
various font formats.
- font "name" is not good hint for fallback
-
Although some font "name" includes the keyword that describes
the characteristics of the typeface design, most fonts do
not provide such informations in font "name". It is difficult
to find the font resource that shares the design characteristics
with missing font resource.
To solve these problems, ITSCJ/IPSJ had started a project of
the proposal standard for extended reference for font resource.
Activity details
The project has a few sub-divisions.
Investigation of Japanese typeface classifications
ISO/IEC 9541-1 includes several typeface categories proposed by
Japanese expert. Recently a few other Japanese typeface classification
were proposed without reference to ISO/IEC 9541. We had checked
new classifications and 9541. From the comparison, Japanese typeface
classifications are the combinations of large grouping by serif existence
(Serif, Sans Serif) and small grouping by historical development
(metal typefaces with calligraphic details, digital typefaces composed
by geometric curves).
Selection of typical characters showing design characteristics
In Latin character typography, the properties like "ascender", "descender",
"xheight" etc are recognized as useful features to classify the typefaces,
but there is no such properties for non-Latin scripts.
We had discussed the terms to describe the design characteristics of
Japanese typefaces, and the characters showing the characteristics.
The numerical measurements of the characteristics are not established yet,
but the characters for sample texts are selected.
Expression of design characteristics via existing font file formats
TrueType Consortium Japan had ever defined a specification how to use
Panose and IBM typeface classification values in TrueType fonts.
It was for expression of the large grouping (Serif, Sans Serif etc).
For the interchanged of more detailed design classifications via TrueType
fonts, the utilization of the parameters left by TrueType Consortium Japan
has been discussed. Also the influence of the parameters in Windows GDI
is under investigation.
Schedule
The first revision of the proposal standard is being drafted for
publishing in spring 2010.
END