Revision [3124]

Last edited on 2010-03-10 13:14:42 by DarTar
Additions:
Many of the examples in this article are based on the [[http://www.ctan.org/get/macros/xetex/latex/fontspec/fontspec.pdf documentation]] of the ##fontspec## package by //Will Robertson//, who deserves most of the credits for making expert font features in {{XeTeX}} so easy to use. Thanks to all those who helped improve this article with valuable feedback: //Bastien Guerry//, //Nicholas Shera//, //Mark Dancer//, //Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert//, //David Crossland//, //Tiago Tresoldi//.
Deletions:
Many of the examples in this article are based on the [[http://www.ctan.org/get/macros/xetex/latex/fontspec/fontspec.pdf documentation]] of the ##fontspec## package by //Will Robertson//, who deserves most of the credits for making expert font features in {{XeTeX}} so easy to use. Thanks to all those who helped improve this article with valuable feedback: //Bastien Guerry//, //Nicholas Shera//, //Mark Dancer//, //Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert//, //David Crossland//, //Tiago Tresoldi//, //Mojca Miklavec//.

Revision [3123]

Edited on 2010-03-09 01:42:16 by DarTar [fixed link to Maarten Sneep's article]
Additions:
''19 Feb 2010'' Fixed link to Maarten Sneep's article.
~-For visual examples of the differences between paragraph and line-by-line based justification algorithms, see this [[http://web.archive.org/web/20070203140340/http://www.nat.vu.nl/~sneep/ars/type/ analysis]] by **Maarten Sneep**.
Many of the examples in this article are based on the [[http://www.ctan.org/get/macros/xetex/latex/fontspec/fontspec.pdf documentation]] of the ##fontspec## package by //Will Robertson//, who deserves most of the credits for making expert font features in {{XeTeX}} so easy to use. Thanks to all those who helped improve this article with valuable feedback: //Bastien Guerry//, //Nicholas Shera//, //Mark Dancer//, //Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert//, //David Crossland//, //Tiago Tresoldi//, //Mojca Miklavec//.
Deletions:
''19 Feb 2010'' Added link to Bram Stein's typeset project.
~-For visual examples of the differences between paragraph and line-by-line based justification algorithms, see this [[http://www.nat.vu.nl/~sneep/ars/type/ analysis]] by **Maarten Sneep**.
Many of the examples in this article are based on the [[http://www.ctan.org/get/macros/xetex/latex/fontspec/fontspec.pdf documentation]] of the ##fontspec## package by //Will Robertson//, who deserves most of the credits for making expert font features in {{XeTeX}} so easy to use. Thanks to all those who helped improve this article with valuable feedback: //Bastien Guerry//, //Nicholas Shera//, //Mark Dancer//, //Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert//, //David Crossland//, //Tiago Tresoldi//.

Revision [3069]

Edited on 2010-02-19 09:40:37 by DarTar [Added link to Bram Stein's typeset project]
Additions:
''19 Feb 2010'' Added link to Bram Stein's typeset project.
Readability results not only from a good selection of typefaces, but also from a correct distribution of characters and whitespace per line. To attain this goal, most ""WYSIWYG"" word processors use relatively dumb justification/hyphenation procedures (i.e. algorithms that establish the position for line breaks by processing text //line by line//). {{latex}} uses an advanced algorithm, based on [[http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/113445055/ seminal work]] by Donald Knuth and Michael F. Plass and enhanced by Frank Liang in 1983 for his ""PhD"" dissertation and, which considers paragraphs as `wholes´ in order to decide where to add line breaks ''[Thanks to Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert for the correct attribution]''. The algorithm uses language-specific patterns in order to decide the preferred position for hyphenation. The engine then selects line breaks so as to make paragraphs look //as good as possible//. Information that is taken into account for calculating optimal line breaks includes the number of consecutive lines ending with hyphens, word tightness on each line, the change of tightness between consecutive lines. Further development has enabled the {{latex}} engine to allow certain characters to stick into the margin, thus generating an //optically// straight margin - i.e., a margin that //looks// straight without being geometrically so. {{latex}}'s hyphenation settings can be fine-tuned by expert users.
~-For visual examples of the differences between paragraph and line-by-line based justification algorithms, see this [[http://www.nat.vu.nl/~sneep/ars/type/ analysis]] by **Maarten Sneep**.
~-For a browser-based implementation of the Knuth-Plass hyphenation algorithm check out this [[http://www.bramstein.com/projects/typeset/ JavaScript library]] by **Bram Stein**.
Many of the examples in this article are based on the [[http://www.ctan.org/get/macros/xetex/latex/fontspec/fontspec.pdf documentation]] of the ##fontspec## package by //Will Robertson//, who deserves most of the credits for making expert font features in {{XeTeX}} so easy to use. Thanks to all those who helped improve this article with valuable feedback: //Bastien Guerry//, //Nicholas Shera//, //Mark Dancer//, //Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert//, //David Crossland//, //Tiago Tresoldi//.
Deletions:
''Jul 16, 2009'' Added link to Font Squirrel.
Readability results not only from a good selection of typefaces, but also from a correct distribution of characters and whitespace per line. To attain this goal, most ""WYSIWYG"" word processors use relatively dumb justification/hyphenation procedures (i.e. algorithms that establish the position for line breaks by processing text //line by line//). {{latex}} uses an advanced algorithm, based on seminal work by Donald Knuth and Michael F. Plass and enhanced by Frank Liang in 1983 for his ""PhD"" dissertation and, which considers paragraphs as `wholes´ in order to decide where to add line breaks ''[Thanks to Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert for the correct attribution]''. The algorithm uses language-specific patterns in order to decide the preferred position for hyphenation. The engine then selects line breaks so as to make paragraphs look //as good as possible//. Information that is taken into account for calculating optimal line breaks includes the number of consecutive lines ending with hyphens, word tightness on each line, the change of tightness between consecutive lines. Further development has enabled the {{latex}} engine to allow certain characters to stick into the margin, thus generating an //optically// straight margin - i.e., a margin that //looks// straight without being geometrically so. {{latex}}'s hyphenation settings can be fine-tuned by expert users.
For visual examples of the differences between paragraph and line-by-line based algorithms, see **Maarten Sneep**'s document: [[http://www.nat.vu.nl/~sneep/ars/type/ Justification & Hyphenation in various text engines]]
Many of the examples in this article are based on the [[http://www.ctan.org/get/macros/xetex/latex/fontspec/fontspec.pdf documentation]] of the ##fontspec## package by //Will Robertson//, who deserves most of the credit for making expert font features in {{XeTeX}} so easy to use. Thanks to all those who helped improve this article with valuable feedback: //Bastien Guerry//, //Nicholas Shera//, //Mark Dancer//, //Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert//, //David Crossland//, //Tiago Tresoldi//.

Revision [2954]

Edited on 2009-11-24 14:50:38 by DarTar [[m]]
Additions:
{{image class="right_floated" src="../img/latex/tex_showcase.jpg" alt="[latex fonts screenshot]" title="Excerpt from the TeX for the Humanities Showcase"}}""There are several reasons why one should prefer"" {{latex}} to a ""WYSIWYG"" word processor like Microsoft Word: //portability, lightness, security// are just a few of them (not to mention that {{latex}} is //free//). There is still a further reason that definitely convinced me to [[tools abandon MS Word]] when I wrote my dissertation: you will never be able to produce //professionally typeset// and //well-structured// documents using most ""WYSIWYG"" word processors. {{latex}} is a free typesetting system that allows you to focus on //content// without bothering about the layout: the software takes care of the actual typesetting, structuring and page formatting, producing documents of astonishing elegance. The [[tools software]] I use to write in {{latex}} on a Mac compiles documents in [[http://www.openformats.org/en65 PDF]] format (but exporting to other formats such as [[http://www.openformats.org/en63 RTF]] or [[http://www.openformats.org/en61 HTML]] is also possible). It supports [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode unicode]] and all the advanced typographic features of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenType OpenType]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Advanced_Typography AAT]] fonts, like //Adobe Garamond Pro// and //Hoefler Text//. It allows fine-tuned control on a number of typesetting options, although just using the default configuration results in documents with high typographic quality. In what follows I review some examples, comparing how fonts are rendered in MS Word and in {{latex}}.
Deletions:
{{image class="right_floated" src="../img/latex/tex_showcase.jpg" alt="[latex fonts screenshot]" title="Excerpt from the TeX for the Humanities Showcase"}}""There are several reasons why one should prefer"" {{latex}} to a ""WYSIWYG"" word processor like Microsoft Word: //portability, lightness, security// are just a few of them (not to mention that {{latex}} is //free//). There is still a further reason that definitely convinced me to [[tools abandon MS Word]] when I wrote my dissertation: you will never be able to produce //professionally typeset// and //well-structured// documents using most ""WYSIWYG"" word processors.
{{latex}} is a free typesetting system that allows you to focus on //content// without bothering about the layout: the software takes care of the actual typesetting, structuring and page formatting, producing documents of astonishing elegance.
The [[tools software]] I use to write in {{latex}} on a Mac compiles documents in [[http://www.openformats.org/en65 PDF]] format (but exporting to other formats such as [[http://www.openformats.org/en63 RTF]] or [[http://www.openformats.org/en61 HTML]] is also possible). It supports [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode unicode]] and all the advanced typographic features of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenType OpenType]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Advanced_Typography AAT]] fonts, like //Adobe Garamond Pro// and //Hoefler Text//. It allows fine-tuned control on a number of typesetting options, although just using the default configuration results in documents with high typographic quality. In what follows I review some examples, comparing how fonts are rendered in MS Word and in {{latex}}.

Revision [2953]

Edited on 2009-11-24 14:49:23 by DarTar
Additions:
{{image class="right_floated" src="../img/latex/tex_showcase.jpg" alt="[latex fonts screenshot]" title="Excerpt from the TeX for the Humanities Showcase"}}""There are several reasons why one should prefer"" {{latex}} to a ""WYSIWYG"" word processor like Microsoft Word: //portability, lightness, security// are just a few of them (not to mention that {{latex}} is //free//). There is still a further reason that definitely convinced me to [[tools abandon MS Word]] when I wrote my dissertation: you will never be able to produce //professionally typeset// and //well-structured// documents using most ""WYSIWYG"" word processors.
Deletions:
{{image class="right_floated" src="../img/latex/tex_showcase.jpg" alt="[latex fonts screenshot]" title="Excerpt from the TeX for the Humanities Showcase"}}There are several [[http://www.andy-roberts.net/misc/latex/latexvsword.html reasons]] why one should prefer {{latex}} to a ""WYSIWYG"" word processor like Microsoft Word: //portability, lightness, security// are just a few of them (not to mention that {{latex}} is //free//). There is still a further reason that definitely convinced me to [[tools abandon MS Word]] when I wrote my dissertation: you will never be able to produce //professionally typeset// and //well-structured// documents using most ""WYSIWYG"" word processors.

Revision [2950]

Edited on 2009-11-24 13:53:53 by DarTar [license badge]
Additions:
""Creative Common Attribution-ShareAlike License""

Revision [2876]

Edited on 2009-07-16 10:17:32 by DarTar [Added link to Font Squirrel]
Additions:
''Jul 16, 2009'' Added link to Font Squirrel.
{{XeTeX}} gives the [[latex best results]] with expert fonts such as those based on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenType OpenType technology]] but works with standard [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TrueType TrueType fonts]] as well. Zillions of expert fonts can be purchased online from digital foundries, but Mac OS comes bundled with a number of excellent fonts with expert features (e.g. ""Hoefler Text, Optima, Skia, Apple Chancery, Zapfino""). More free ""OpenType"" fonts are available on the net. Check out for example the [[http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&item_id=Gentium Gentium]], [[http://scripts.sil.org/CharisSILfont Charis SIL]] and [[http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&item_id=DoulosSILfont Doulos SIL]] fonts from [[http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&cat_id=FontDownloads SIL]], [[http://scholarsfonts.net/cardofnt.html Cardo]] by David J. Perry, the free fonts designed by [[http://www.josbuivenga.demon.nl/ Jos Buivenga]] (the creator of ""Fontin""), this [[http://www.alvit.de/blog/article/20-best-license-free-official-fonts collection]] of professional quality fonts selected by Vitaly Friedman or the amazing [[http://www.fontsquirrel.com/ Font Squirrel]].
Deletions:
''May 20, 2009'' ""OpenType"" support in Office 2010.
{{XeTeX}} gives the [[latex best results]] with expert fonts such as those based on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenType OpenType technology]] but works with standard [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TrueType TrueType fonts]] as well. Zillions of expert fonts can be purchased online from digital foundries, but Mac OS comes bundled with a number of excellent fonts with expert features (e.g. ""Hoefler Text, Optima, Skia, Apple Chancery, Zapfino""). More free ""OpenType"" fonts are available on the net. Check out for example the [[http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&item_id=Gentium Gentium]], [[http://scripts.sil.org/CharisSILfont Charis SIL]] and [[http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&item_id=DoulosSILfont Doulos SIL]] fonts from [[http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&cat_id=FontDownloads SIL]], [[http://scholarsfonts.net/cardofnt.html Cardo]] by David J. Perry, the free fonts designed by [[http://www.josbuivenga.demon.nl/ Jos Buivenga]] (the creator of ""Fontin""), or this amazing [[http://www.alvit.de/blog/article/20-best-license-free-official-fonts collection]] of professional quality fonts selected by Vitaly Friedman.

Revision [2836]

Edited on 2009-06-05 07:05:24 by DarTar
Deletions:
@@[[research]] | [[papers papers & communications]] | [[teaching]] | [[erp]] | [[links]] | [[tools]] | [[cv]] | [[contact]]@@

Revision [2829]

Edited on 2009-05-20 13:31:54 by DarTar [OpenType support expected in Microsoft Office 2010]

No differences.

Revision [2828]

Edited on 2009-05-20 13:31:33 by DarTar [OpenType support expected in Microsoft Office 2010]
Additions:
''May 20, 2009'' ""OpenType"" support in Office 2010.
>>===Breaking news===
''May 20, 2009'' Microsoft is expected to [[http://www.orzeszek.org/blog/2009/05/17/how-to-enable-opentype-ligatures-in-word-2010/ add support for OpenType features]] in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Office_2010 Microsoft Word 2010]], shipping in 2010.
>>==Contents==
Deletions:
''November 26, 2008'' Changed wording.
==Contents==

Revision [2788]

Edited on 2009-03-11 08:35:28 by DarTar
Additions:
{{latex}} is a free typesetting system that allows you to focus on //content// without bothering about the layout: the software takes care of the actual typesetting, structuring and page formatting, producing documents of astonishing elegance.
Deletions:
{{latex}} is a free typesetting system that allows you to concentrate on //content// and without bothering about the layout: the software takes care of the actual typesetting, structuring and page formatting, producing documents of astonishing elegance.

Revision [2787]

Edited on 2009-03-11 08:35:15 by DarTar
Additions:
{{latex}} is a free typesetting system that allows you to concentrate on //content// and without bothering about the layout: the software takes care of the actual typesetting, structuring and page formatting, producing documents of astonishing elegance.
Deletions:
{{latex}} is a free typesetting system that allows you to concentrate on //content// and forget about the layout: the software takes care of the actual typesetting, structuring and page formatting, producing documents of astonishing elegance.

Revision [2607]

Edited on 2008-11-25 23:42:05 by DarTar
Additions:
{{image class="right_floated" src="../img/latex/tex_showcase.jpg" alt="[latex fonts screenshot]" title="Excerpt from the TeX for the Humanities Showcase"}}There are several [[http://www.andy-roberts.net/misc/latex/latexvsword.html reasons]] why one should prefer {{latex}} to a ""WYSIWYG"" word processor like Microsoft Word: //portability, lightness, security// are just a few of them (not to mention that {{latex}} is //free//). There is still a further reason that definitely convinced me to [[tools abandon MS Word]] when I wrote my dissertation: you will never be able to produce //professionally typeset// and //well-structured// documents using most ""WYSIWYG"" word processors.
Deletions:
{{image class="right_floated" src="../img/latex/tex_showcase.jpg" alt="[latex fonts screenshot]" title="Excerpt from the TeX for the Humanities Showcase"}}There are several [[http://www.andy-roberts.net/misc/latex/latexvsword.html reasons]] why one should prefer {{latex}} to a ""WYSIWYG"" word processor like Microsoft Word: //portability, lightness, security// are just a few of them (not to mention that {{latex}} is //free//). There is still a further reason that definitely convinced me to [[tools abandon MS Word]] to write my dissertation: you will never be able to produce //professionally typeset// and //well-structured// documents using most ""WYSIWYG"" word processors.

Revision [2606]

Edited on 2008-11-25 23:41:38 by DarTar [[minor] changed wording]
Additions:
''November 26, 2008'' Changed wording.
{{image class="right_floated" src="../img/latex/tex_showcase.jpg" alt="[latex fonts screenshot]" title="Excerpt from the TeX for the Humanities Showcase"}}There are several [[http://www.andy-roberts.net/misc/latex/latexvsword.html reasons]] why one should prefer {{latex}} to a ""WYSIWYG"" word processor like Microsoft Word: //portability, lightness, security// are just a few of them (not to mention that {{latex}} is //free//). There is still a further reason that definitely convinced me to [[tools abandon MS Word]] to write my dissertation: you will never be able to produce //professionally typeset// and //well-structured// documents using most ""WYSIWYG"" word processors.
Deletions:
''July 29, 2008'' Fixed mismatch in historic ligatures example.
{{image class="right_floated" src="../img/latex/tex_showcase.jpg" alt="[latex fonts screenshot]" title="Excerpt from the TeX for the Humanities Showcase"}}There are several [[http://www.andy-roberts.net/misc/latex/latexvsword.html reasons]] why one should prefer {{latex}} to a ""WYSIWYG"" word processor like Microsoft Word: //portability, lightness, security// are just a few of them (not to mention that {{latex}} is //free//). There is still a further reason that definitely convinced me to [[tools abandon MS Word]]: you will never be able to produce //professionally typeset// and //well-structured// documents using most ""WYSIWYG"" word processors.

Revision [2476]

Edited on 2008-07-30 08:57:20 by DarTar [Fixed mismatch in historic ligatures example]
Additions:
''July 29, 2008'' Fixed mismatch in historic ligatures example.
Many of the examples in this article are based on the [[http://www.ctan.org/get/macros/xetex/latex/fontspec/fontspec.pdf documentation]] of the ##fontspec## package by //Will Robertson//, who deserves most of the credit for making expert font features in {{XeTeX}} so easy to use. Thanks to all those who helped improve this article with valuable feedback: //Bastien Guerry//, //Nicholas Shera//, //Mark Dancer//, //Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert//, //David Crossland//, //Tiago Tresoldi//.
Deletions:
''July 23, 2008'' Credits to Will Robertson.
Many of the examples in this article are based on the [[http://www.ctan.org/get/macros/xetex/latex/fontspec/fontspec.pdf documentation]] of the ##fontspec## package by //Will Robertson//, who deserves most of the credit for making expert font features in {{XeTeX}} so easy to use. Thanks to all those who helped improve this article with valuable feedback: //Bastien Guerry//, //Nicholas Shera//, //Mark Dancer//, //Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert//, //David Crossland//.

Revision [2443]

Edited on 2008-07-24 04:53:03 by DarTar [credits to Will Robertson]
Additions:
''July 23, 2008'' Credits to Will Robertson.
Many of the examples in this article are based on the [[http://www.ctan.org/get/macros/xetex/latex/fontspec/fontspec.pdf documentation]] of the ##fontspec## package by //Will Robertson//, who deserves most of the credit for making expert font features in {{XeTeX}} so easy to use. Thanks to all those who helped improve this article with valuable feedback: //Bastien Guerry//, //Nicholas Shera//, //Mark Dancer//, //Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert//, //David Crossland//.
Deletions:
''July 11, 2008'' Added alpha transparency example.
Thanks to all those who helped improve this article with valuable feedback: //Will Robertson// (fontspec author), //Bastien Guerry//, //Nicholas Shera//, //Mark Dancer//, //Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert//, //David Crossland//.

Revision [2435]

Edited on 2008-07-11 07:45:43 by DarTar [Added alpha transparency example]
Additions:
''July 11, 2008'' Added alpha transparency example.
~1)[[http://nitens.org/taraborelli/latex#alpha Transparency]]
"" ""
===6. Transparency ===
The [[tools fonstpec package]] allows you to set font transparency in your {{XeTeX}} source.
=={{latex}} (alpha transparency)==
{{image class="border" src="../img/latex/alpha.jpg" alt="[example of alpha transparency in LaTeX]" title="Example of text rendered with alpha transparency"}}
~''[Hoefler Text Italic, 48+pt]'' #%[[http://nitens.org/img/latex/docs/beauty_of_latex_alpha.pdf pdf]]#% #%[[http://nitens.org/img/latex/docs/beauty_of_latex_alpha.tex tex]]#%
===7. Line breaks, justification and hyphenation ===
~''[Hoefler Text, 10pt]'' #%[[http://nitens.org/img/latex/docs/beauty_of_latex_hyph.pdf pdf]]#% #%[[http://nitens.org/img/latex/docs/beauty_of_latex_hyph.tex tex]]#%
=== 8. Getting expert fonts===
=== 9. Typesetting with {{latex}}: selected links ===
=== 10. Acknowledgments ===
=== 11. Technical notes ===
Deletions:
''July 11, 2008'' Correct CC licenses in the sources.
===6. Line breaks, justification and hyphenation ===
~''[Hoefler Text, 10pt, magnified]'' #%[[http://nitens.org/img/latex/docs/beauty_of_latex_hyph.pdf pdf]]#% #%[[http://nitens.org/img/latex/docs/beauty_of_latex_hyph.tex tex]]#%
=== 7. Getting expert fonts===
=== 8. Typesetting with {{latex}}: selected links ===
=== 9. Acknowledgments ===
=== 10. Technical notes ===

Revision [2434]

Edited on 2008-07-11 07:31:46 by DarTar [cc-licenses in the source + acknowledgments]
Additions:
~''[Adobe Minion Pro, 24pt]'' #%[[http://nitens.org/img/latex/docs/beauty_of_latex_ancient1.pdf pdf]]#% #%[[http://nitens.org/img/latex/docs/beauty_of_latex_ancient1.tex tex]]#%
Deletions:
~''[Adobe Minion Pro, 24pt]'' #%[[latex pdf]]#% #%[[latex tex]]#%

Revision [2433]

Edited on 2008-07-11 07:30:44 by DarTar [cc-licenses in the source + acknowledgments]
Additions:
''July 11, 2008'' Correct CC licenses in the sources.
Thanks to all those who helped improve this article with valuable feedback: //Will Robertson// (fontspec author), //Bastien Guerry//, //Nicholas Shera//, //Mark Dancer//, //Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert//, //David Crossland//.
Deletions:
''May 30, 2008'' Added example of ligatures in Skia
Thanks to all those who helped improve this article with valuable feedback: //Will Robertson// (fontspec author), //Bastien Guerry//, //Nicholas Shera//, //Mark Dancer//, //Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert//.

Revision [2284]

The oldest known version of this page was created on 2008-05-31 02:00:45 by DarTar
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