[scribus] Spaces

Hedley Finger hfinger at handholding.com.au
Wed Jul 30 08:03:04 CEST 2008


All:

    Pierre Marchand wrote:

> Vous (Craig Ringer) avez écrit :
>   
>> F.Harr at softhome.net wrote:
>>     
>>> Call 'em quads.  A one-em quad should NOT be typeface dependent, but
>>> font size dependent.  A quad that's one em wide would be twelve points
>>> in a line or twelve point text, twenty points wide in a line of
>>> twenty-point text etc.
>>>       
>> If it's not typeface dependent then it may look very strange when used
>> with condensed or expanded faces. Using the face's basic space as a
>> guide for the others should address that at least to an extent.
>>
>>     
>
> Here I think we should consider to split the problem into 2 "cases". First we
> want a collection of spaces which size is a function of the font size or not.
> Second we would like that type designers takes time to provide us with a full
> range of spaces well fitted with the font shape. First would be easy enough
> but second can’t be so easily computed --- but we could imagine that user
> could imput values for missing spaces. Besides this, we should also associate
> a stretch factor to each class of space, etc. Finally a lot to do,
> exciting :)

We should be careful not to break the expectations of typographers, type 
designers, and graphic designers.   The em quad, en quad, etc. are 
relative sizes which are a function of the font's face size and will 
have been taken into account by its designer.  The absolute sizes, e.g. 
pica, Didot, etc. remain constant.  Any scheme to generate pseudo quad, 
thick, mid, thin, etc. should take this into account and not implement a 
solution which in the programmer's humble opinion is "better", whatever 
that means.  If you want to implement a spacing scheme in addition to 
the standard scheme expected, that's fine.  Just make sure it is well 
separated from the standards and user understand how it works and what 
the effect is.

Regards,
Hedley

--

Hedley Finger

28 Regent Street   Camberwell VIC 3124   Australia
Tel. +61 3 9809 1229   Fax. (call phone first)
Mob. (cell) +61 412 461 558
Email. "Hedley Finger" <hfinger at handholding.com.au>

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