[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       koffice
Subject:    Re: KWord 1.3 Beta Kerning Problems
From:       James Richard Tyrer <tyrerj () acm ! org>
Date:       2003-12-15 20:57:12
[Download RAW message or body]

Dik Takken wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> 
> 
> I would like to know if any of you who are testing KOffice 1.3 Beta are
> familiar with the kerning problems described below.
> 
> 
> 
> Configuration A:
> 
> * KWord 1.2.94 on KDE 3.1.4
> * QT 3.2.2
> * FontConfig 1.0.1
> * Freetype 9.4.3
> * Xft 2.0.0
> 
> On-screen kerning of all fonts, except for
> mono-spaced ofcourse, is very bad. I would guess there is no kerning
> applied to on-screen text at all. When you generate a print-preview, or
> actually print documents, What You Saw Is What You Get. Very messy.
> 
> Also, some glyphs of some characters look like they are rendered bold,
> while other glyphs *in the same character* are rendered regular. This is
> visible in both on-screen rendering as in actual print-outs.
> 
> Configuration B:
> 
> * KWord 1.2.94 on KDE 3.1.93
> * QT 3.2.3
> * FontConfig 1.0.1
> * Freetype 9.2.3
> * Xft 2.0.0
> 
> On-Screen kerning is better, but far from perfect. There is a huge gap
> between the 'o' and 's' characters in the Times New Roman font for
> example. The problem of some glyphs rendered in bold seems to be gone. As
> soon as you create a print preview, or print the document, all remaining
> kerning problems are gone. The print-out looks gorgeous.
> 
> 
> Does anyone have explanations for this behavior? Is anyone working on
> this?

IMHO, font metrics in Qt remains seriously broken, and Qt does not support WYSIWYG correctly.

I must first admit that I don't know how FreeType2 works so I can only say how it should 
work.  For the wordprocessor, the screen image must be an approximation of the actual 
print image based on the font metrics for the printed image -- that is: like WordPerfect 
it is necessary to sacrifice the screen image quality to get the metrics correct.  Qt 
doesn't do this.  It tries to print what is shown on the screen based on the font metrics 
for the screen image.  If you compare KWord to WordPerfect, you should see that a printed 
line using a proportionally spaced font is longer in the KWord output than it is in the 
WordPerfect output.

OTOH, with a presentation which will be shown on a computer display (or projector) you 
need to use the font metrics for the screen display.

What this means is that there needs to first be an option to choose which font metrics 
that you want.  This must be provided by Qt.

Also note that I don't think that Qt supports kerning yet.

There is a newer version of FontConfig.  That might help.

	http://freedesktop.org/Software/FontConfig2_2

Which FreeType[2] are you using?  The latest is 2.1.5

--
JRT

____________________________________
koffice mailing list
koffice@mail.kde.org
To unsubscribe please visit:
https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/koffice
[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]