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 FontForge running underArch Linux | |
| Original author(s) | George Williams |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Frank Trampe, Ben Martin, Adrien Tétar, Khaled Hosny, Jeremy Tan |
| Initial release | April 1, 2004; 20 years ago (2004-04-01) |
| Stable release | |
| Repository | |
| Written in | C |
| Type | Font editor |
| License | Mix ofGNU General Public License v3 andBSD license |
| Website | fontforge |
FontForge is aFOSSfont editor which supports many common font formats. Developed primarily by George Williams until 2012, FontForge is free software and is distributed under a mix of theGNU General Public License Version 3 and the 3-clauseBSD license.[2] It is available for operating systems includingLinux,Windows,[3] andmacOS,[4] and is localized into 12 languages.[which?][citation needed]
To facilitate automated format conversion and other repetitive tasks, FontForge implements twoscripting languages: its own language andPython.[5] FontForge can run scripts from its GUI, from the command line, and also offers its features as a Python module, so it can be integrated into any Python program.[6]
FontForge supports Adobe's OpenTypefeature file specification (with its own extensions to the syntax).[7] It also supports the unofficialMicrosoft mathematical typesetting extensions (MATH table)[8] introduced forCambria Math and supported byOffice 2007,XeTeX andLuaTeX. At least one free OpenType mathematical font has been developed in FontForge.
FontForge usesFreeType for rendering fonts on screen.[9] Since the November 15, 2008 release, FontForge useslibcairo andlibpango software libraries for graphics and text rendering,[10] providing anti-aliased graphics and complex text layout support.
FontForge can usePotrace or AutoTrace to auto trace bitmap images and import them into a font.
Parts of FontForge's code are used by theLuaTeX typesetting engine for reading and parsingOpenType fonts.[11]
The FontForge source code includes a number of utility programs, including 'showttf', which shows the contents of binary font files, and aWOFF converter and deconverter.
FontForge supports a wide variety of font formats.[12] Its nativeSpline Font Database format (.sfd file name extension) istext-based[13] and facilitates collaboration between designers, asdifference files can be easily created. FontForge also supports the interoperableUFO source format, which is based on XML.
The software supports many other font formats and converts fonts from one format to another. Supported font formats include:TrueType (TTF),TrueType Collection (TTC),OpenType (OTF),PostScript Type 1, TeX Bitmap Fonts, X11 OTB bitmap (onlysfnt),Glyph Bitmap Distribution Format (BDF), FON (Windows), FNT (Windows), andWeb Open Font Format (WOFF). FontForge also imports and exports fonts to and from theScalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format and theUnified Font Object (UFO) format.
The FontForge project was founded by George Williams as a retirement project, and initially published from 2001 to March 2004 asPfaEdit.[14][15]
Williams actively developed, maintained and supported the program and related utilities for around 12 years. In mid-2011, Dave Crossland began contributing to the project and the project moved fromSourceForge toGitHub. Crossland began offering introductory type design workshops through theTeX Users Group (TUG) to raise funds to hire contract developers to maintain and develop the program. FontForge's development became more active, and Khaled Hosny and Barry Schwartz were notable contributors, but in late 2012 they and Crossland disagreed about the direction of the project so they forked FontForge as SortsMill Tools.[16]
In 2011, FontForge was packaged for easier installation on Mac OS X by Dr. Ben Martin with support from TUG. Meanwhile, Matthew Petroff published his Windows Build System and unofficial Windows builds. In 2013, the FontForgeBuilds project was started on SourceForge to extend this; it was subsequently entirely rewritten, and is today maintained by Jeremy Tan as a Windows application.
In 2012, Crossland organized a new project website to be hosted onGitHub Pages,fontforge
In 2014, with financial support from Google, Frank Trampe added full support for theUFO font source format.
Media related toFontforge at Wikimedia Commons
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