Ps.
The "Minimal" layout system exposed by FreeType is analogous of using
ASCII only. *If* you use ASCII to encode your text, then you should use
FreeType only, with its Minimal layout system.
However, these days, most people use Unicode to encode their text, and
rightly so. *If* you use Unicode to encode your text, then you should
use OpenType Layout through a library such as HarfBuzz.
But using the TrueType 1.0 Layout model ("kern" table) is analogous of
using 8-bit character encoding ("ANSI" or "ISO Latin-1") for your text.
Which is the worst possible solution.
If you use ASCII these days, then you know you're in a decidedly
"primitive" environment. But if you want anything beyond ASCII, you
should switch to Unicode, and forget about the 1990s mess of codepages,
ANSIs and 8-character encodings. The same is true for text layout:
either use FreeType only ("Minimal"), or do it properly with OpenType
Layout.
Anything in-between, especially the TrueType 1.0 Layout ("kern") is
ancient, half-baked, and totally unfit for today's world. If you really
want that, you can write your own "kern" table parser and deploy it
privately -- but I would be decidedly against accepting such code in the
mainstream distribution, so I applaud the FreeType developers that they
have made this decision a long time ago and have stuck with it.
(Again, with "gasp" it's a totally different thing!)
Best,
Adam
--
May success attend your efforts,
-- Adam Twardoch
(Remove "list." from e-mail address to contact me directly.)
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