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Re: Alternatives to LaTeX



At 15:08 97-04-16, Sebastian Rahtz wrote:

> > making the development of additional such new font families easier. So I
> > get the impression that the idea is not that everyone should be able to
> > just flip in whatever they like.
>
>well, if i cant meet a designer's specification which says `do the
>numbers and letters in equations using Helvetica', I guess I wont be
>using LaTeX3....

  The problem is not doing this, but it does not provide correct math
typesetting. In fact, some TeX versions (like BlueSky Textures) allow
direct inclusion of PS-fonts, so you do not even need to convert them
(except for a metric fonts file).

  Getting a translation PS font -> METAFONT might be a partial help, but it
will not resolve the math fonts issue, which is tied up to the problems of
kerning, and optical scaling, font families matching, etc.

  Therefore, the interesting thing would be if such a translation could
somehow be used together with methods of adding the missing information.

>I really think that developing fonts themselves, as opposed to
>discussing LaTeX interfaces and encoding, is a matter well beyond the
>remit and interests of LaTeX3 people. They may not agree

  The questions interact. For now, the main issue is getting a working
version math encoding suggestion, Frank Mittelbach stated, but later,
issues like getting a better standard script font (or fonts might be
raised). Then that would involve questions of font design. Or so I
understood it.

  The sorry thing that there are not many math font families to choose
from, and one idea of the math encoding project was trying to help changing
that.

  Hans Aberg