RE: STIX fonts for clients

> -----Original Message-----
> From: 
> [email protected] 
> [mailto:[email protected]
> .org] On Behalf Of William F Hammond
> Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2008 1:17 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: STIX fonts for clients
> 
> "Paul Topping" <[email protected]> writes:
> 
> > So Mozilla Firefox is planning on doing a sub-standard job of
> > installing fonts based on the idea that it is the only game in town
> > as far as MathML support is concerned?
> 
> I don't think that was said.  Wasn't the phrase  "only browser with
> _native_ MathML support"?

I guess I was reading between the lines. Is there another interpretation
of "native" in this context?

> > Bad idea, I think. They should bite the bullet and do the job right.
> 
> I may be lost, but is the intention here to argue against a browser
> bundling math fonts for its own use rather than installing them for
> overall platform use?  Or what?

Yes. Installing them for its own use balkanizes the user's machine. So,
what if STIX comes out with a new version and the user installs it using
the Windows Fonts control panel, for example? Firefox users will not see
the benefit. There are a number of other scenarios that are equally
confusing to the user. While the OS does support fonts that are private
to the application, I believe this is mostly intended for fonts that are
used in the user interface of the application and that make no sense to
be shared among all apps. Regardless, users are accustomed to installing
fonts in the Windows control panel and similarly on Mac. As far as I can
see, the only reason it is being suggested to make the STIX fonts
private to FF is to simply avoid the work of making a proper font
installation.

> (For platform installation unless a browser is re-distributed by the
> platform vendor there are "courtesy" issues [who has the right to
> install what and in which location] that strike me as overwhelmingly
> complicated with too many opportunities for breakage.  Up until now
> with downloaded Mozillas the buck has been passed to the user.  We
> know it is not working well for most users.)
> 
>                                     -- Bill
> 
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