/rcaron not in webfont, but is used in web specimen sample text

[thundernixon]

Nice work on this – I especially like the true Italics!

I've noticed that the /rcaron character does not appear to be present in the version of the font which is used on the specimen website. It is in the fonts in this repo, but it must be subset out of the webfonts. Here's what I see when I visit the site on a chrome browser:

The result is similar on iOS safari, just with a different fallback.

Just thought it would be worth updating!

[quoteunquoteapps]

Thanks, Stephen! The italics are really a game-changer. The type designer who originally made this font (Alan Dague-Greene) is basically out of the font business. Do you have a recommendation of someone in the open source font community who might best correct issues like the /rcaron? We definitely want Courier Prime to be compliant and useful for everyone. — John

…

On Jan 28, 2019, at 7:21 AM, Stephen Nixon ***@***.***> wrote: Nice work on this – I especially like the true Italics! I've noticed that the /rcaron character does not appear to be present in the version of the font which is used on the specimen website. It is in the fonts in this repo, but it must be subset out of the webfonts. Here's what I see when I visit the site on a chrome browser: The result is similar on iOS safari, just with a different fallback. Just thought it would be worth updating! — You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or mute the thread.

[thundernixon]

Thanks, John!

Sorry, I wasn't very clear. The /rcaron glyph is present in the source font, and also available in the downloads you provide on the specimen website. However, to make a smaller webfont file, it seems that someone probably subset the font version that is used on the site – that is, they removed some glyphs to make a smaller file size.

Here's the regular version, downloaded from the site, including /rcaron (highlighted in blue):

This is opened in the font-editing software, GlyphsApp.

That said, this font would be more useful if it had a few extra characters, such as the /Euro and a few others to complete the Mac Roman / Windows 1252 glyph sets:

If you added these, it would support a few more use cases. You could, of course, add many glyphs or features beyond this, and it just depends on what you want for your product.

Do you have a recommendation of someone in the open source font community who might best correct issues like the /rcaron?

It is in the (fairly large) Google Fonts backlog of fonts to add, so it may eventually get time from myself or another freelancer, depending on how priorities rank against other work. Alternatively, if you're eager to get this up a bit sooner (still in context of other work in the backlog, of course), you could potentially hire a freelancer to add in a few extra glyphs. I can't speak on behalf of google fonts, but if it needs less design time, it would presumably be easier to prioritize. Of course, the main value of expanding the font might be to your users, if it's a common font used in your product. If you do want to pursue this, I might be able to ask some friends whether they would have interest and availability.

[quoteunquoteapps]

Thanks, Stephen. Our other designer took a look at GlyphsApp and now thinks he can do this himself. So we’ll get back to you with a robust web font. — John

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On Jan 30, 2019, at 1:42 PM, Stephen Nixon ***@***.***> wrote: Thanks, John! Sorry, I wasn't very clear. The /rcaron glyph is present in the source font, and also available in the downloads you provide on the specimen website. However, to make a smaller webfont file, it seems that someone probably subset the font version that is used on the site – that is, they removed some glyphs to make a smaller file size. Here's the regular version, downloaded from the site, including /rcaron (highlighted in blue): This is opened in the font-editing software, GlyphsApp. That said, this font would be more useful if it had a few extra characters, such as the /Euro and a few others to complete the Mac Roman / Windows 1252 glyph sets: If you added these, it would support a few more use cases. You could, of course, add many glyphs or features beyond this, and it just depends on what you want for your product. Do you have a recommendation of someone in the open source font community who might best correct issues like the /rcaron? It is in the (fairly large) Google Fonts backlog of fonts to add, so it may eventually get time from myself or another freelancer, depending on how priorities rank against other work. Alternatively, if you're eager to get this up a bit sooner (still in context of other work in the backlog, of course), you could potentially hire a freelancer to add in a few extra glyphs. I can't speak on behalf of google fonts, but if it needs less design time, it would presumably be easier to prioritize. Of course, the main value of expanding the font might be to your users, if it's a common font used in your product. If you do want to pursue this, I might be able to ask some friends whether they would have interest and availability. google/fonts#1272 — You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or mute the thread.

[thundernixon]

Fantastic! Mostly I'm just recommending this particular issue to make the web specimen better. The issue stood out to me and I didn't want to not let you know. :) Expanding the font will be useful, though. You might want to comment on the Google/fonts issue once you've updated, just so it's recorded in a good spot.

[thundernixon]

One quick update: you can find the "core" and "extended" glyphsets expected in Google Fonts described here:

https://github.com/googlefonts/gftools/blob/master/Lib/gftools/encodings/GF%20Glyph%20Sets/README.md

[myfonj]

The culprit here really seems to be that the Typekit (now "Adobe Fonts") file https://use.typekit.net/wwy4kic.css loaded from https://quoteunquoteapps.com/courierprime/ contains only single striped-down version of each font face containing only 212 Characters (210 Glyphs), whereas the main font from here (courier-prime.zip) has 364 (379) Characters (Glyphs).

Ditching the Typekit and switching to Google Fonts, where this font is now finally available (https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Courier+Prime), seems to be an option here, since they distribute properly sub-setted Unicode ranges that cover all characters available in the font, but, strangely, the version distributed by Google fonts has slightly different metrics (or something): uniform ascenders (shorter ls) and smaller eye in es; at least that's how it renders on my machine. Not sure why, and I guess the original version is better in this regard.

Crude test conducted via devtools F12 console in Firefox at https://quoteunquoteapps.com/courierprime/ testing "Latin characters" support with:

document.head.insertAdjacentHTML('beforeend', `<style>
@import url("https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Courier+Prime:ital,wght@0,400;0,700;1,400;1,700");
.from-gf {
 font-family: "Courier prime", Impact;
}
.courier-prime-typeface {
 font-family: "Courier-prime", Impact; /* also adding Impact to see missing glyphs better */
}</style>`);
const samp = 'aäāăąàáãåæbcçćĉċčdďđ eèéêëēĕėęěfgĝğġģ hĥħiìíîïĩīĭįıijjĵkķĸ lĺļľŀłmnñńņňʼnŋoøðòóôõöōŏőœp qrŕŗřsśŝşšſtţťŧþuùúûüũūŭůűųv wŵxyýŷÿzzźżž';
$$('.courier-prime-typeface>*,.courier-prime-typeface:not(:has(*))').forEach(_=>{
 const t = _.textContent;
 _.insertAdjacentHTML('beforeend', ` ${samp} (--Typekit)
  <hr><span class='from-gf'>${t} ${samp} (--Google Fonts)</span>`)
});

gives:

---

One last thing: the font-family ruleset for .courier-prime-typeface in page's CSS does not use any sane fallback and generic font-family (what is the reason this issue is noticeable there, after all). I think it is advisable to hint users to do something like font-family: "Courier prime", "Nimbus Mono PS", "Courier new", monospace; there instead. The last monospace part is the most important. (Stack from https://modernfontstacks.com/?stack=monospace-slab-serif, btw.)