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Creating fonts
by Splinky on Thu 16th Jan 2003 14:32 UTC

I don't think the cost of the program is the real issue.

Creating GOOD fonts is a difficult and time consuming process. Just having the letterforms isn't the issue. Optimizing them so that they use the fewest number of control points, creating kerning pairs, and creating proper hinting (so that the item looks good at smaller sizes) can be a very time intensive process.

It's also NOT a mathematical thing that you can just throw computer horsepower at. Quality font design begins with a quality designer. It's more of an art than a technology.

If you look at most of the homebrew fonts that people make, they tend to be in the handwritten, or "extreme" categories, where precision isn't necessary. Otherwise, it's just a very intensive task.

Not saying that people shouldn't get into designing fonts if thats what they want to do - but nobody should think that its the lack of tools that keep there from being more fonts. It's the lack of people who can do this work.