ifarqhar@mqccsunc.mqcc.mq.OZ (Ian Farquhar 7420) (11/25/89)
I have been working on a Postscript debugger for a couple of weeks now,
and was getting to the point where I wanted to write an editor. Being
fairly conscious of the look the program, I decided that I would allow
the user to select their default font, rather than impose that excuse
for a clunk of vomit: topaz (or indeed, any of the other ugly fonts
supplied on the WorkBench disk).
Naturally, I wanted to use the console.device to save a bit of work, but
oh dear... it mentioned unmentionables: columns - a concept that just
does not work with proportional fonts.
Come on, CBM! The Amiga's font support is DISMAL, DISGUSTING and
INEXCUSABLE! Classic example: tc_kern. This is - according to the RKM,
the distance from the cursor position to where the bitmap will start!
This has nothing to do with kerning (which, for the record, is the
adjustment of space between characters. There are two types of kerning:
track kerning which adjusts all spacing within a line equally, and
pairwise kerning to adjust spaces between particular letter to avoid the
illusion where, say an 'A' and a 'W' are placed next to one another and
thus look too far apart). However, the absence of proportional font
support really floored me, I just could not believe it.
Okay, so I ring CBM Oz to find out what is happenning, and am told that
things will improve in 1.4. How? Frankly, the thought of rewriting the
console device does not appeal to me, though I have accepted it. I am
experimenting to see whether I can use a proportional font and the
console device to handle lines, and handle character insertion myself.
However, I want an upgrade path to 1.4, so I would like to know what is
happenning in this device. Please reply direct if you do not wish to
post.
Incidentally, is Pixelations on the net. I would like to discuss the
possibility of introducing an interface to your product.
Disclaimer: All opinions expressed are my own, and have nothing to do
with those of my employers.
Signature: Who cares? Nobody reads them anyway.
D