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How OpenType Works

simoncozens.github.io · 8,023 words · saved by 2 readers

They say that if you enjoy sausages, you shouldn’t look too carefully into how they are made, and the same is true of OpenType fonts. In this chapter we’re going to look in some depth about the OpenType font format: how it actually converts the outlines, metrics and advanced typographic features of a font into a file that a computer can interpret. In an ideal world, this would be information that programmers of layout systems and font handling libraries would need, but implementation details that font designers could safely ignore. But we are not in an ideal world, and as we will see when we start discussing the metrics tables, the implementation details matter for font designers too - different operating systems, browsers and applications will potentially interpret the information contained within a font file in different ways leading to different layout. So put on your overalls, grab your bucket, and let’s take a look inside the font sausage factory. From a computer’s perspective, a

What is a font? FontTools and ttx Exploring OpenType with ttx The head table Vertical metrics: hhea and OS/2 The hmtx table The name table The cmap table The CFF table The post table TrueType Representation And more tables! Font Collections OpenType Font Variations They say that if you enjoy sausages, you shouldn’t look too carefully into how they are made, and the same is true of OpenType fonts. In this chapter we’re going to look in some depth about the OpenType font format: how it actually converts the outlines, metrics and advanced typographic features of a font into a file that a computer

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