Random notes & thoughts.
I did a talk in [Cocoaheads Beijing](http://cocoaheadsbj.org) yesterday on the topic “Text Layout with Core Text”, and [here](http://jjgod.org/docs/slides/TextLayoutWithCoreText.pdf) is my slides (4 MB, pdf).
I may write a more detailed article on [Core Text](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_Text) typesetting later, stay tuned.
**Update**: CWS provided a solution in comment: opening Terminal and entering `defaults -currentHost write -globalDomain AppleFontSmoothing -int 2`, after re-login, everything is back to normal again!
**Update**: Turns out the problem is not just from Dell, various 3rd party display manufactures including Samsung, LG, HP and EIZO also have the same issue.
—
A very tricky issue has been bothering me for a few months: in Snow Leopard, whenever I connected my [Dell 2408WFP](http://is.gd/2lYr1) monitor, every app launched after that will have [sub-pixel antialiasing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subpixel_rendering) (aka. LCD Font Smoothing) **disabled**.
For a typography freak like me, it is a huge disaster.
The full story comes in two parts:
1. Prior versions of Mac OS X used to have this “Font smoothing style” option in System Preferences -> Appearances, it is not as complete as [fontconfig](http://www.fontconfig.org). But good enough for general public. A very unfortunate thing [I covered about a few months ago](/2009/03/17/snow-leopard-font-related-changes/) is, they simplified that option to a checkbox: Use LCD font smoothing when available.
2. But how did Snow Leopard determine whether it is “available”? It relies from information retrieved from the driver of the display. Let’s say if you have ten displays connected, and one of them is a CRT display instead of LCD, then all the applications in your system will **not** be able to use LCD font smoothing. Here comes the epic fail: Dell 2408WFP (and Dell 3008WFP, AFAIK), a perfectly fine LCD display, is **not** recognized as one by Mac OS X (both Leopard and Snow Leopard have this issue, I haven’t check earlier versions).
(Though my Dell 2408WFP is not recorgnized as a LCD display in Leopard, I can force sub-pixel rendering with the “Font smoothing style” option.)
With the combination of these two problems, I’m stucked. Either I can give up Snow Leopard or get a new display. But I simply don’t have enough space on my desk for another display. (And I really happy with the Dell 2408WFP, it works with all other devices: Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, etc., so I won’t abandon it for an [Apple LED Cinema Display](http://www.apple.com/displays/) for apparent reasons.)
This morning I just got a reply for my bug report from Apple Developer Connection, it said:
Thank you for contacting us regarding Bug ID# 6975903. The report you have submitted has been determined by engineering to be an issue with LDC Display. Please know that we are doing our best to inform Dell of the issue with the hope that they can implement the necessary changes. Please feel free to contact them regarding this issue to help alert them of its importance.
I felt even more desperate after receiving this. Because it seemed too rare that Apple (and Dell) won’t even care to fix. And since I have little knowledge about why and what need to be fixed from Dell, it will be really hard for me to push Dell on this issue.
To be honest, what I’m asking is pretty simple: if we cannot get back the original font smoothing level option, **at least give us a hidden preference item to turn on LCD font smoothing**, that won’t hurt the usability of Snow Leopard, right?
A few months ago, I’ve covered font related changes in Snow Leopard in [this post](http://blog.jjgod.org/2009/03/17/snow-leopard-font-related-changes/), that was perceived from developer preview build 10A286, after I got build 10A335 and 10A354, several changes can be observed.
1. Heiti SC and Heiti TC we covered earlier are now used as the default fallback fonts for Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese, respectively. We can see this via the content of the default font fallback configuration file of [Core Text](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_Text):
$ cat /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/\
Frameworks/CoreText.framework/Resources/DefaultFontFallbacks.plist
…
…
2. “**Menlo**”, the monospaced font we mentioned previously, are apparently used as the default coding font for Xcode 3.2 now. Apple even filed a couple of trademark registrations in [US](http://tarr.uspto.gov/tarr?regser=serial&entry=77-745991+&action=Request+Status) and [EU](http://www.macnn.com/blogs/2009/06/01/823.html) for that name.
Personally, I still prefer the good-old-Monaco.
3. A pair of new Chinese OpenType fonts called **Hiragino Sans GB** and **Hiragino Sans CNS** have been added into recent builds, for Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese, respectively. Both fonts have two widths: W3 and W6.
These fonts were [announced](http://www.screen.co.jp/ga_product/sento/press/MP_NL081118E.pdf) by Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd., they are specifically designed for Chinese users, but in a traditional Japanese Kanji style. These fonts can be seen as “sans-serif” fonts (hence the name) or “Gothic” fonts in Japanese term, or “heiti” in Chinese term.
However, Hiragino Sans CNS, the font family for traditional Chinese appeared in 10A335 is removed suspiciously in 10A354. I wonder if Apple will added it back in the official release.
For comparision, Microsoft licensed a pair of Chinese fonts called “[Microsoft Yahei](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_YaHei)” and “[Microsoft Jhenghei](http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fonts/family.aspx?FID=368)” in Windows Vista, which are somewhat similar to Hiragino Sans fonts, at least to my eyes.
最显眼的，也是整个 Palm Pre 产品的标志性字体，是英文用的 Coconut 字体族，这是一套由 [The Font Bureau](http://www.fontbureau.com/) 在 2008 年给 Palm 专门开发的 sans-serif 字体，包含 Medium, Medium Oblique, Condensed Bold, Condensed Medium, Bold, Bold Oblique 六种风格。这套字体看起来很像修改版的 [Avenir](http://www.fontshop.com/fonts/downloads/linotype/avenir_std_complete_vp/)。
更新：The Font Bureau [正式发布](http://typophile.com/node/58935)了这款字体，命名为 Prelude，可能是因为先前已经有字体叫作 Coconut 了…
日文是 [VL PGothic Regular](http://sourceforge.jp/projects/vlgothic/)，看得出是经过精心选择的免费字体。
简体/繁体中文是[文鼎 PL UMing](http://packages.debian.org/sid/ttf-arphic-uming) (AR PL UMing)，这个就比较恶了，可惜能选的免费字体也不多。
韩文是 Batang，这个应该是 Windows 下默认的韩文字体。
还提供了 Times New Roman, Arial, Verdana, Courier New 和 Lucida Console 这几套 PC 上常见的字体。
值得一提的是，还有原来 Palm OS 上经典的点阵字体 [Sunnyvale](http://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/forum/viewthread.php?threadid=178956)。
浏览器直接可用的 Web 字体在去年被重新提起，可是没过一段时间就沉寂下去，最近一期 [A List Apart](http://www.alistapart.com/) 上 Jeffrey Zeldman 采访 David Berlow 的这篇 [Real Fonts on the Web](http://www.alistapart.com/articles/realfontsontheweb) 又引起了新一轮的讨论，这里摘录一些有趣的话。
David Berlow:
> How important dynamically rendered type is to design and use on the web must now be clear. In addition, the only other option—that the type industry cede its intellectual property to the public without permission—is not going to happen.
[Tal Leming](http://talleming.com/2009/04/21/web-fonts/):
> There should be a new file extension for this. I propose “.wtf” – “WebType Font”.
[Mark Pilgrim](http://diveintomark.org/archives/2009/04/21/fuck-the-foundries):
> … What he fails to mention is that *every font-consuming application on every platform on every computer on Earth* will need to be “upgraded” to “respect” this permissions table. Because otherwise they’re not really permissions, are they? They’re just useless bits taking valuable chunks out of my metered bandwidth plan. Like the [bozo bit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bozo_bit) without the bozo.
[Jonathan Hoefler](http://www.typography.com/):
> All of the type designers I know desperately want to find a way to enable people to use fonts online, and not just because we’re capitalist stooges, but because we live our lives online.
[Bruce Schneier](http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-0108.html#7):
> Truth be told, I don’t know. I feel rather like the physicist who just explained relativity to a group of would-be interstellar travelers, only to be asked: ‘How do you expect us to get to the stars, then?’ I’m sorry, but I don’t know that, either.
总结起来，未来还是很黑暗。