Hello!
Wow, you've tested a lot. Thank you very much!
I study computer science, this is what I need all these mathematical operators, control pictures etc. for; and the foreign letters are needed for some database projects (e.g. I collect coins and want to register them, with all the texts standing on them).
But the main reason is that I'd like to have one font which is suitable for any kind of document, no matter if it is about mathematical formulas or Russian song texts - I don't like to have a special font file for every single issue. I know about the problems with Unicode fonts (the huge line height for example), but these are less annoying to me than missing characters.
I did never plan to make italic, bold etc. versions of Quivira - the glyphs that are automatically generated by office programs look good enough to me.
Figures Round tops and round bottoms need to overshoot the tops of flat numerals. The flat bottom of numeral 3 looks odd. (The same is true for rounded tops and bottoms of letters like C O J etc., they usually cross the baseline otherwise they visually float above the baseline).
Yes, I've read about this in this forum before, but when I made the round tops just 5% higher, they became a whole pixel higher in font size 12 and thus looked much worse than before (I tested with some small letters, but I don't think this makes a difference). I guess hinting could solve this problem, but the programs which can do this are to expensive for me. But I’ll try again with a smaller change.
The numeral 3 actually looks odd, thanks. I'll care about that.
Superscripts The problem with scaled superscripts/subscripts is that they're too light compared to regular numerals. Make simple and use glyph transformer to make them bolder. A similar problem is found with reversed enclosed numerals. White numerals need to be bolder even if they are the same size.
You're right. The use of scaling seemed to be an easy way to get these characters quickly, but your proposal also sounds quite easy and will look better. I'll play with the parameters...
Fractions Numerators usually align with tops of numerals, denominators with the base line.
Hmm... I decided them to align with the super- and subscripts, so that every new fraction can be generated by using a superscript, U+2044 FRACTION SLASH and a subscript. I can't be the first one to have this idea, am I?
Currency symbols £$¥¢₣€€ usually fit on the figure width.
I'll try it, but I'm afraid the figure width isn't enough for these symbols (especially the Won-symbol), and I don't think wider figures look better. Well, I'll test it, maybe I find a good compromise.
Diacritics Dot above and diaeresis seem to be floating above the lowercase. They would look better centre aligned like the tilde and macron rather than top aligned.
Right. I’ve already thought about that and I’ll lower them.
Presentation Forms Take a look at how these are designed in other fonts. I've not seen many designs with the dot of fi above the f. Rather than extending the horizontal stroke, combine the contours. Roman Numerals like VIII may need condensing horizontally as well as combining contours.
I’ve NEVER seen a design with a dot like this.
I just thought I try something new – I don’t use them anyway, they are only included for compatibility with some well known fonts and the Mac Standard. The Unicode Consortium calls them “deprecated” as well.
Font Metrics […]
Line-Spacing: Yes, this is a typical problem of Unicode fonts. I already have glyphs extending to the current borders. I decided to just tolerate this, and I hope it won’t become worse with future glyphs. If you use only “normal” letters, reducing the line height in your text editor does a good job.
Auto-generated superscripts and subscripts:
[…] Subscripts are superscripted […]
In my documents they look exactly as in your picture. Is it possible that M$-Word ignores these values?
I don’t remember where I’ve got them from. Will be fixed.
Italic angle: Oh, I thought this is meant to tell the text editor which angle it shall use for generating the italic variant. I’ll change it.
Kindest regards,
Laenglich