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GENTIUM-FAQ.txt

249 lines

1	GENTIUM-FAQ
2	Gentium Basic Release 1.102
3	28 November 2013
4	========================
5
6	Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about the Gentium fonts:
7
8
9	General
10	========
11
12	How do you pronounce Gentium?
13
14	The preferred pronunciation is with a soft G as in 'general', not a
15	hard one as in 'gold': JEN-tee-oom.
16
17	What is GentiumAlt?
18
19	It is a version of the font with redesigned diacritics (flatter
20	ones) to make it more suitable for use with stacking diacritics, and
21	for languages such as Vietnamese. The Greek glyphs also use the
22	Porsonic (single-curve) design for the circumflex. Since the main
23	Gentium fonts do not currently include any 'smart' rendering routines,
24	there is no easy way to access these alternate diacritic shapes from
25	within the regular Gentium font. The encoding of the fonts are the same,
26	so the same text can be viewed with either one. There is also no
27	problem with having both font families installed at the same time.
28
29
30	Licensing
31	=========
32
33	I want to use Gentium in my publication - can I?
34
35	Gentium is released under the SIL Open Font License, which permits use
36	for any publication, whether electronic or printed. For more answers
37	to use questions see the OFL-FAQ. The license, alongside information
38	specific to Gentium, is in the release package.
39
40	I would like to bundle Gentium with my application - can I?
41
42	This is our most common question. The SIL Open Font License allows
43	bundling with applications, even commercial ones, with some restrictions.
44	See the OFL file.
45
46	Can I use the font on my web site?
47
48	You can certainly create web pages that request that Gentium be used to
49	display them (if that font is available on the user's system). According
50	to the license, you are even allowed to place the font on your site for
51	people to download it. We would strongly recommend, however, that you
52	direct users to our site to download the font. This ensures that they
53	are always using the most recent version with bug fixes, etc. To make
54	this easier, we've simplified the URL for Gentium:
55	http://scripts.sil.org/gentium
56
57	Is Gentium going to stay free?
58
59	There is no intention to ever charge users for using Gentium. The
60	current version is licensed under a free/open license and future
61	versions will be similar.
62
63
64	Modification
65	============
66
67	I would like to modify Gentium to add a couple of characters I need. Can I?
68
69	Yes - that is allowed as long as you abide by the conditions of the
70	SIL Open Font License.
71
72	So will you add glyphs upon request?
73
74	If you have a special symbol that you need (say, for a particular
75	transcription system), the best means of doing so will be to ensure
76	that the symbol makes it into the Unicode Standard. It is impossible
77	for us to add every glyph that every person desires, but we do place
78	a high priority on adding pretty much anything that falls in certain
79	Unicode ranges (extended Latin, Greek, Cyrillic). You can send us your
80	requests, but please understand that we are unlikely to add symbols
81	where the user base is very small, unless they have been accepted
82	into Unicode.
83
84	Can I send you work I've done to be incorporated into Gentium?
85
86	Yes! See the FONTLOG for information on becoming a contributor.
87
88
89	Technical
90	=========
91
92	Can you help me get Gentium working on my system?
93
94	We cannot afford to offer individual technical support. The best
95	resource is this website, where we hope to offer some limited help.
96	However, we do want to hear of any problems you encounter, so that
97	we can add them to the list of bugs to fix in later releases.
98
99	Our contact address is <gentium AT sil DOT org>. Please understand
100	that we cannot guarantee a personal response.
101
102	I can't find all the extended Latin letters in the font. How do I type them?
103
104	Gentium is Unicode-encoded, which means that the computer stores a
105	special, unique code for each letter in your document. Since most
106	keyboards do not have hundreds of keys, special software is needed
107	in order to type the hundreds of special characters supported by the
108	font.
109
110	I can't find the 'o with right hook' in the font. Where is it?
111
112	Combinations of base letters with diacritics are often called
113	composite, or pre-composed glyphs. Gentium has hundreds of these
114	(the ones that are included in Unicode). There are, however, many
115	common combinations that are not represented by a single composite.
116	It is possible to enter these into a document, but only as
117	individual components. So 'o with right hook' would be entered as
118	'o', then 'right hook'. Although this may not look very good in some
119	cases, we're not able to anticipate every possible combination.
120	Future versions of Gentium will include 'smart font' support for
121	technologies such as OpenType and SIL's Graphite. This will make
122	diacritic positioning much better. The Gentium Basic fonts do,
123	however, include limited support for both OpenType and Graphite,
124	and demonstrate the type of support that will eventually be provided.
125
126	Some diacritics are not aligning well with base glyphs, and if I type more
127	than one diacritic, they run into each other. Why is that?
128
129	Gentium currently has no 'smart font' code for automatic diacritic
130	positioning, but the Gentium Basic fonts do, and similar support will
131	appear in the main fonts in the near future.
132
133	How do I type the Greek letters?
134
135	You need a Unicode-compatible keyboarding system, which is not
136	included in the distribution package.
137
138	I'm having problems making PDFs -- why won't my document distill?
139
140	Gentium is a large font, with lots of glyphs. As a result, some
141	printers can balk at PDFs that have the complete font embedded. The
142	easiest way to avoid this is to have Acrobat/Distiller subset the
143	font. This is generally a good idea anyway (with any font) and can
144	reduce the size of your files.
145
146
147	Basic
148	=====
149
150	How are the Basic fonts (Gentium Basic, Gentium Book Basic) different
151	from Gentium?
152
153	These font families are based on the original Gentium design, but with
154	additional weights. Both families come with a complete regular, bold,
155	italic and bold italic set of fonts. The supported character set,
156	however, is much smaller than for the main Gentium fonts. These
157	'Basic' fonts support only the Basic Latin and Latin-1 Supplement
158	Unicode ranges, plus a selection of the more commonly used extended
159	Latin characters, with miscellaneous diacritical marks, symbols and
160	punctuation. In particular, these fonts do not support full extended
161	Latin IPA, complete support for Central European languages, Greek and
162	Cyrillic.
163
164	What is the Book weight?
165
166	It is a complete second font family that is slightly heavier overall,
167	and more useful for some purposes. The main Gentium family will
168	eventually have a complete matching Book weight, along with matching
169	italics.
170
171	Why is the line spacing greater for the Basic fonts?
172
173	In some environments, stacked diacritics in Gentium could display as
174	'chopped-off'. Gentium Basic has slightly wider default line spacing
175	in order to avoid this problem. Most applications do, however, let you
176	set the line spacing explicitly, so you can have the lines spaced
177	precisely as you wish.
178
179	Will you be accepting requests for additions to the Basic character set?
180
181	No. We are now focusing our development efforts on the main Gentium
182	fonts, which already provide richer character set support.
183
184	Is there an Alt version of the Basic fonts?
185
186	No, although you may notice that capitals and some tall lowercase
187	letters do use 'low-profile' versions.
188
189
190	Future
191	======
192
193	Now that SIL International has taken over Gentium, who will be the next
194	designer?
195
196	Victor Gaultney will remain as primary designer, but Annie Olsen, a
197	fellow type designer from the SIL Non-Roman Script Initiative, has
198	joined the project team. She is a former calligraphy teacher, and is
199	well suited for the task. Other members of the NRSI team will also
200	add their expertise in technical matters.
201
202	Do you plan to include other typographic enhancements (small caps, old style
203	figures, etc.)?
204
205	Those would be nice, wouldn't they? From a design point of view,
206	it would be great to have these refinements, and we haven't ruled
207	them out. But there are other needs that are much higher priority
208	(Bold, Cyrillic, etc.). If you think you could contribute some of
209	your time and effort to these enhancements, see the FONTLOG file for
210	information on becoming a contributor.
211
212	What about bold?
213
214	The Gentium Basic fonts include Bold and Bold Italic versions. The
215	main Gentium fonts will also include them in the future.
216
217	Sans-serif?
218
219	There is a definite need for a sans-serif font that shares some of
220	Gentium's strengths -- high readability, economy of space, etc. It
221	would also be great if that font also harmonized well with Gentium.
222	We don't currently have any plans for a companion face, although one
223	of our other projects - Andika - may be useful. Andika is a sans-serif
224	font designed specifically for use in literacy programs around the
225	world, and is available from our web site.
226
227	Will you be extending Gentium to cover other scripts, and Hebrew in
228	particular?
229
230	It is very unlikely that we would do this, as there are so many
231	pressing needs in Latin, Greek and Cyrillic scripts. But you could
232	contribute to the project.
233
234	When will Cyrillic be completed?
235
236	As soon as we can get it done, but it is still a few months away.
237
238	I need a couple of ancient Greek glyphs, such as the digamma. When will
239	those be ready?
240
241	These have already been designed and will be in the next main release.
242
243	Will there be a Type 1 version? What about OpenType?
244
245	The next generation of Gentium will have OpenType, Graphite and AAT
246	support. We do not plan to produce Type 1 versions at this time, but
247	please write us if this is important (and tell us why). We are, however,
248	considering releasing a version in OT-CFF format, but it will not go
249	through the same careful testing as the standard OT/Graphite/AAT version.