[smufl-discuss] Re: Glyph Registration and Graphical Metadata

[David Webber]

From: Daniel Spreadbury

> David wrote:

>> Well clef changes are an integral part of music which contains clefs
>> at the start of lines, and must be considered equally important:
>> it would be a shame to make software do a lot of work to produce them.

> In my opinion, scoring software should allow the end user to decide the
> scale factor to be used for clef changes (for example, it is adjustable in
> both Sibelius and Finale), so it shouldn't be necessary to encode a
> smaller version of the clef at a different codepoint.

It doesn't actually *need* to be adjustable.   Elaine Gould (p7):  "A change
of clef ... is two thirds of the size of the clef at the beginning of the
stave".   Precise and definitive.

Sibelius and Finale obviously do the extra work of loading the font at a
different size in order to draw clef changes, and they have the option to go
on doing that.  But presumably you are not creating a standard just for use
by Sibelius and Finale?

If you're defining font to draw music at a certain size, it surely makes
sense to include all the symbols you need (for music drawn at that size) in
the font.

If the objective is

Load-the-font
Draw-the-music
Release-the-font

and your bassoon suddenly changes from bass clef to tenor, you find you
can't do it like that.  It has to be

Load-the-font
Load the font at 2/3 size in case a clef change is encountered
Draw-the-music choosing which version of the font to use for each symbol
Release-the-font at 2/3 size
Release-the-font

I really don't understand the objection to having 2/3 size clefs at separate
code points:  clefs at the start of lines and clef changes are different
symbols, which happen to differ only in size.

In other cases you *have* included symbols at different sizes.  I mean what
are the grace notes doing at U+E210 and U+E211?  U+E211 looks just like a
smaller quaver (U+E106) and the standard acciaccatura (U+E210) can be drawn
by selecting the font at a smaller size, and using a quaver with a stroke
through the stem.

And as I mentioned before TAB clefs exist at different sizes.

My general philosophy in all of this is that if you're defining a font with
a specific purpose (drawing music) as opposed to just adding an example of
every symbol you can think of, then the font should be focused on that
purpose.  I appreciate that this is different in many ways from 'normal'
font design, but even normal font design is focussed on a specific purpose -
drawing text - for which concepts like 'base line'  'ascender' and
'descender' were designed.


>> I've been wondering about this.  Mulling it over, it seems to me
>> that ligatures (and most font features) are designed for text: a
>> sequence of symbols drawn along a line (usually horizontal).

> Yes: and that is what ligatures would be used for in SMuFL-compliant fonts
> under my proposal, e.g. "mp".

That's fine, but this is an exceptional case of text-like symbols along a
line.  I also agree wholeheartedly agree with your comment on kerning for
dynamics.

Dave

David Webber
Mozart Music Software
http://www.mozart.co.uk/


#############################################################
This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to
  the mailing list <[hidden email]>.
To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[hidden email]>
To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[hidden email]>
To switch to the INDEX mode, E-mail to <[hidden email]>
Send administrative queries to  <[hidden email]>