5 ms·

A question I've had for a while: Is there some reason the entire set of Unicode reference glyphs can't be used as a last-resort font? Sure, this would render v

A question I've had for a while: Is there some reason the entire set of Unicode reference glyphs can't be used as a last-resort font? Sure, this would render various things wrong (e.g. Arabic, although Arabic is common enough that you're likely to have a font for it installed so this wouldn't come up), but why couldn't this be done as a better-than-nothing fallback?

kabes 6y ago
At least for some use cases like the web: size.
- Korimo 6y ago
  Couldn't it be installed on OS level, or at least in the webbrowser? How are noto fonts distributed? I hope no website on this planet sends you a 12 MiB font file for some fallback purposes.
  - NightMKoder 6y ago
    I think the issue comes with new Unicode releases with older oses not getting updates. In the browser world I’m not sure how bad it is since browsers get auto updates frequently, but e.g. iPhone 5 users are never going to see the newest emojis.
  - livre 6y ago
    >How are noto fonts distributed? On PC? Package managers, search for "noto-fonts" here[1], I installed them a year ago. If you want the full set it'll be a 200+ MiB download. [1] https://voidlinux.org/packages/ https://voidlinux.org/packages/
loulouxiv 6y ago
From https://www.unicode.org/faq/font_keyboard.html https://www.unicode.org/faq/font_keyboard.html: The fonts used in the PDF code charts on our website are licensed by their owners for chart usage only, and they may not be re-used without permission of the font suppliers.
- Sniffnoy 6y ago
  Thanks, that answers the question.
- speps 6y ago
  Certificate expired on October 5th...
lifthrasiir 6y ago
License is one factor, but more importantly due to the limitation of OpenType. Last-resort fonts work because a single glyph maps to lots of characters (typically with a special support [1]); otherwise you wouldn't be able to have more than 140 thousand glyphs. [1] https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/opentype/spec/cmap#format13 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/opentype/spec/cm...

kabes 6y ago

At least for some use cases like the web: size.

Korimo 6y ago
Couldn't it be installed on OS level, or at least in the webbrowser? How are noto fonts distributed? I hope no website on this planet sends you a 12 MiB font file for some fallback purposes.
- NightMKoder 6y ago
  I think the issue comes with new Unicode releases with older oses not getting updates. In the browser world I’m not sure how bad it is since browsers get auto updates frequently, but e.g. iPhone 5 users are never going to see the newest emojis.
- livre 6y ago
  >How are noto fonts distributed? On PC? Package managers, search for "noto-fonts" here[1], I installed them a year ago. If you want the full set it'll be a 200+ MiB download. [1] https://voidlinux.org/packages/ https://voidlinux.org/packages/

loulouxiv 6y ago

From https://www.unicode.org/faq/font_keyboard.html https://www.unicode.org/faq/font_keyboard.html: The fonts used in the PDF code charts on our website are licensed by their owners for chart usage only, and they may not be re-used without permission of the font suppliers.

Sniffnoy 6y ago
Thanks, that answers the question.
speps 6y ago
Certificate expired on October 5th...

lifthrasiir 6y ago

License is one factor, but more importantly due to the limitation of OpenType. Last-resort fonts work because a single glyph maps to lots of characters (typically with a special support [1]); otherwise you wouldn't be able to have more than 140 thousand glyphs. [1] https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/opentype/spec/cmap#format13 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/opentype/spec/cm...