Random notes & thoughts.
上次在 twitter 上和 Typeisbeautiful 的 Rex 提到这件事情，最近刚收到 iPad，就来分析一下。
iPad 上的新闻类软件非常多，多到 app store 上有个 News 分类专门给这类软件，但良莠不齐也是自然的，但从字体选用看，我认为做得最有诚意的还是三个传统媒体：New York Times 的 NYT Editors’ Choice, WSJ 的 The Wall Street Journal 和 Financial Times 的 Financial Times iPad Edition。它们共同的特点是，为了优化阅读体验，都使用了专门订制的字体，随 app 一起提供，几乎完美地保持了纸面版本的字体风格。
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.
1. 字体反锯齿选项不再允许选择 hinting 的程度 (以前可以选择 Medium, Light, etc.)，现在似乎默认就是 Medium，不能改，很奇怪 (我个人习惯用 Light 的)。
2. 原来 Mac OS 独有的 dfont 字体格式被抛弃了，改用 [ttc](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_Type_Font#TrueType_Collection) (TrueType Collection) 格式替代。
uncia:~ jjgod$ ls /Library/Fonts/*.ttc
/Library/Fonts/AmericanTypewriter.ttc /Library/Fonts/GillSans.ttc
/Library/Fonts/Baskerville.ttc /Library/Fonts/HelveticaCY.ttc
/Library/Fonts/Chalkboard.ttc /Library/Fonts/Hoefler Text.ttc
/Library/Fonts/Cochin.ttc /Library/Fonts/MarkerFelt.ttc
/Library/Fonts/Copperplate.ttc /Library/Fonts/Optima.ttc
/Library/Fonts/Didot.ttc /Library/Fonts/Papyrus.ttc
/Library/Fonts/Futura.ttc /Library/Fonts/STHeiti Medium.ttc
uncia:~ jjgod$ ls /System/Library/Fonts/*.ttc
/System/Library/Fonts/Courier.ttc /System/Library/Fonts/Menlo.ttc
/System/Library/Fonts/Helvetica.ttc /System/Library/Fonts/STHeiti Light.ttc
/System/Library/Fonts/HelveticaNeue.ttc /System/Library/Fonts/Times.ttc
/System/Library/Fonts/LucidaGrande.ttc
3. iPhone OS 中使用的混合简繁中日韩语言版本的 (华文) 黑体出现在 Snow Leopard 中，一个 `/System/Library/Fonts/STHeiti Light.ttc` 文件对应了 Heiti SC, Heiti TC, Heiti J 和 Heiti K 这四套字体。
4. 新增修改自 [Bitstream Vera Sans Mono](http://www.bitstream.com/font_rendering/products/dev_fonts/vera.html) 的新等宽字体 Menlo (这个名字大概是来自 [Menlo Park](http://is.gd/nDN8))，提供 Regular, Italic, Bold, Bold Italic 四种风格。
因为授权比较自由，这个字体恐怕是软件发行者最受欢迎的等宽字体，之前 [Panic Coda](http://www.panic.com/coda/), [BBEdit](http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/) 和 [MacVim](http://code.google.com/p/macvim/) 都提供了各自的修改版本。
全世界都在关注 [Android][] 这套手机平台时，字体爱好者们也有惊喜，这就是由 [Ascender Corp][] 设计的一套完整的包含 serif (衬线体), sans-serif (非衬线体) 和 monospaced (等宽) 字体的新字体集: [Droid][]。
[Android]: http://code.google.com/android
[Ascender Corp]: http://www.ascendercorp.com/
[Droid]: http://typophile.com/node/39036
根据报道，这套字体将作为 Android 平台的系统 UI (User Interface) 字体，和 Apple 在 iPhone 中选用 Arial 的怪异行为相比，Android 的这个选择肯定会更让人觉得满意。
这套字体目前还没有提供任何形式的下载，虽然 Android 的[模拟器](http://code.google.com/android/reference/emulator.html)的确使用了这套字体，但在提供下载的 SDK 和模拟器源代码中都找不到它的踪迹，也许是通过某种方法压缩存储了。
更新: 这套 Apache License 的字体在[这里](http://damieng.com/blog/2007/11/14/droid-font-family-courtesy-of-google-ascender)可以下载，原来它是存放在 emulator 的 system.img 文件中，这是一个磁盘镜像，使用的是 yaffs2 文件系统。其中 Droid Sans Fallback 包含了中文。
最令人高兴的是，Droid Sans 字体中提供了对简体、繁体中文、日文和韩文的支持，根据 [specimen][] 的介绍，涵盖了 GB2312, Big-5, JIS-0208 和 KSC-5601 字符集，使用的是*简体中文*书写习惯，从 specimen 中可以发现，这是一套类似俪黑/雅黑风格的字体。
[specimen]: http://www.ascendercorp.com/pdf/Droid_fonts.pdf