🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <761@ecrcvax.UUCP>, diomidis@ecrcvax.UUCP (D. Spinellis) writes:
> In article <HOLLAND.89Aug25144558@m2.csc.ti.com> holland@m2.csc.ti.com (Fred Hollander) writes:
> >Even if the font supports ligatures, are there any software packages
> >that will recognize that a ligature should be used?

> Ditroff supports ligatures:

> miranda6% echo affluent | ditroff | psdit | tail
> 				% Postscript output for the first page;
> 				% (Prologue ommited)
> %%Page: 1 1
> 10 s 10 xH 0 xS 1 f
> 576 96(af\257uent)N		% affluent
> %	 ----			(The fl ligature for Times-Roman)
> 1 p
> %%Trailer

ditroff has a ligature mode that can be turned on and off.
When ligature mode (set by an argument to the .li request) is on,
ditroff attempts to set ligatures. In the case of Adobe's fonts,
however, ditroff can only set the ligatures available in the font.

In the preceding example, "affluent" should not contain an "fl"
ligature. Rather, it should contain an "ffl" ligature.
I've wondered why Abobe's otherwise skilled typeface designers
consider the "ff," "ffi," and "ffl" ligatures unnecessary.

To see the difference, typeset the following words (with your
equivalent of ligature mode on, of course) on a PostScript
typesetter and a typesetter that provides a complete f-ligature
set, e.g., Compugraphic 8400: official, efficient, affiant,
effacing, affective, effective, iffy, affluent, effluvium,
effloresce, afflux. Times Roman and equivalents are excellent
test fonts.

The words set in the font with the complete f-ligature set look
much smoother. The f[f-ligature] words look like they have bumps
in them, bumps that distract the eyes and call unwelcome attention
to word's components.

This isn't to praise Compugraphic, in particular, though their fonts
are very good, but to pick on Adobe's type designers, whose incomplete
f-ligature sets detract from their otherwise fine fonts. I'm curious
about why they made this decision.
-- 
Jim Ingram	          uunet!h-three!jimi | jimi%h-three@uunet.uu.net
h-three Systems Corporation   P.O. Box 12557 RTP NC 27709   919 549 8334