[odf-discuss] Fonts and Interoperability

[marbux]

On 12/18/06, Pete Harlow <peter.harlow at gmail.com> wrote:
> Is it outside our terms of reference to put together a core set of open
> fonts (and perhaps distibute them with the viewer)?

I have no position on the terms of reference. But if one were to
assemble a core set of open fonts, I would lobby heavily for inclusion
of a clone of the Stymie typeface family.  Here is a sample of the
Stymie Medium BT face.
<http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/bitstream/stymie/medium/mac-ttf/143076/>,
which is the pick of the litter for text. A few other variants here,
<http://www.paratype.com/btstore/fonts/Stymie.htm>. There are others,
e.g., the bold condensed and its italic are very nice too.

In some 20 years of working as a journeyman typographer before
switching to a new career as a lawyer, Stymie is the single most
versatile typeface I found. E.g., set it in letter format flush left
and it looks like a typewriter face. Set it in the same format
justified and it looks like a good, unobtrusive serifed book text. Set
it short measure with tight leading and justified and it looks like a
newspaper text typeface. It is the true chameleon of the typeface
world. It's squared serifs can look like an Old West typeface or an
ultra-modern depending on the typographic treatment given.

There are several clones out there, but I have not yet found a free
version, so have migrated Stymie from Windows to Linux.

I first encountered Stymie as a lad of 10, in hand-set hot metal type
form. That began a life-long love affair with the face.

Best regards,

Marbux