Via:      UK.AC.NPY.VAXA;  8 OCT 92 14:55:37 BST
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.win3-l
Date:         Thu, 8 Oct 1992 14:56:00 GMT
From:         "Martin Hatfield" <CUX1@VAXA.NEWCASTLE-POLY.AC.UK>
Subject:      RE: TrueType Specification...

On Thu, 8 Oct 1992 10:19:40 BST  "Mr. R. Coates" <roysan@UK.AC.LIV.UXB> said

> A couple of people have now asked about the tech specs for Truetype fonts,
> it may interest them to know that info is available from ftp.uu.net
> in the directory vendor/microsoft/TrueType-Info

The TrueType specification and utilities provided on ftp.uu.net in the
vendor/microsoft/TrueType-Info directory are well worth downloading.  My
comments, from memory -- I don't have the documents to hand, on the some of
the files are as follows:

The document in tt-win.zip is an excellent introduction to Windows character
fonts and issues surrounding TrueType font implementation.  A comparison between
ATM and TrueType scaling technologies is discussed in tt-talk.zip.

The DOS utility TTFDUMP can be used to identify the structure and source of a
TrueType font.  The package identfied a 'shareware' font that I obtained
recently as having been created by AllType.

The ttspec file(s) is a long (390 page) technical specification of TrueType.
It contains some useful information on mapping between Mac, Adobe PostScript
and Microsoft Unicode character sets.  Only recommended for TrueType technical
junkies.

The lucida.zip file contains a description of the design criteria for the
WingDings TrueType font supplied with Windows 3.1.  I was not aware that
WingDings was part of the Lucida font family and designed by Chuck Bigelow &
Kris Holmes.

The TrueType-Info directory structure and contents of the readme.txt file
are appended below.  Hope this information helps.


Martin Hatfield

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
vendor/microsoft/TrueType-Info Directory Listing

          embeddin.zip
          lucida.zip
          readme.txt
          tt-talk.zip
          tt-win.zip
          ttfdump.zip
          ttfname.zip
          ttspec1.zip
          ttspec2.zip
          ttspec3.zip

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
vendor/microsoft/TrueType-Info/readme.txt

TrueType developer information files in this directory:

1. The TrueType specifications (in two formats):

   The TrueType Font File specifications detail how to construct
   a TrueType font from scratch (or build a tool to do so), the
   TrueType programming language, and the complete format of each
   sub-table contained in the .TTF file complete with illustrations.

   a. In Windows 3.1 help format:
      The "tt-help.zip" file is a pkzip file which will create
      the "ttfspec.hlp" when uncompressed.  This hyper-text based
      version of the specifications make an ideal online reference
      guide to in internals of a TrueType font.  If you have Windows
      3.1, you have all of the tools necessary to view or print this
      online guide (no other programs are required).  You can even make
      this into an icon for your desktop by doing a "File:New" from
      the Windows 3.1 Program Manager and just pointing the command
      line argument to the ttfspec.hlp file.  Double-clicking on
      that icon will automatically launch winhelp.exe and open the
      ttfspec.hlp file.  Requires 950KB after uncompression.

   b. In Word for Windows 2.0 format:
	ttspec1.zip
	ttspec2.zip
	ttspec3.zip
      These three compressed files contain the exact same information
      which is present in the online help file mentioned above.
      This version would allow you to easily print out the entire
      400 page book.  These documents are stored in Word for Windows
      2.0 format and require Windows 3.1 for printing.  See the
      "readme.doc" (in ttspec1.zip) for printing instructions.
      Requires 2.5MB after uncompression.

2. ttfdump.zip  - An MS-DOS executable which will dump the contents
   of a TrueType font out in a human-readable fashion.  It allows
   you to dump the entire font, or just specific sub-tables.  This
   tool, combined with the specifications above, allows very effective
   debugging or exploration of any TrueType font.  For example, to
   dump the contents of the 'cmap' (character code to glyph index
   mapping) table, enter:

	ttfdump fontname.ttf -tcmap -nx

   Entering "ttfdump" with no options will give you a help message.

3. ttfname.zip  - Example C source code on how to parse the contents
   of a TrueType font.  Although this particular example will open up
   the file and locate the font name contained within the 'name' table,
   it could be readily adapted to parse any other structure in the
   file.  This compressed zip file also contains many useful include
   files which have pre-defined structures set up for the internal
   tables of a TrueType font file.  This code may be useful for
   developers who wish to parse the TrueType data stream returned
   by the GetFontData() API in Windows 3.1.

4. tt-win.zip   - A 31 page Word for Windows 2.0 document which is
   targeted for the Windows developer who is interested in learning
   about some of the capabilities TrueType adds to Windows 3.1.
   Contains many illustrations.

5. embeddin.zip - A text file which describes all of the information
   necessary for a Windows developer to add TrueType font embedding
   capabilities to their application.  Font embedding allows the
   application to bundle the TrueType fonts that were used in that
   document and transport it to another platform where the document
   can be viewed or printed correctly.

6. tt-talk.zip  - The TrueType Technical Talks 1 and 2.  These
   text files describe some of the things that are happening
   with TrueType behind the scenes in Windows 3.1.  The first
   document walks the reader through all of the steps that occur
   from when the user first presses the key on the keyboard until
   that character appears on the screen (scaling, hinting, drop
   out control, caching and blitting).  The second talk describes
   one of the unique features of TrueType called non-linear scaling
   which allows the font vendor to overcome some of the physical
   limitations of low resolution output devices.

7. lucida.zip  - This text file contains useful typographic
   information on the 22 Lucida fonts which are contained in the
   Microsoft TrueType Font Pack for Windows.  It gives pointers
   on line-layout, mixing and matching fonts in the family and
   a little history on each typeface.  This information was
   written by the font's designers, Chuck Bigelow & Kris Holmes.
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU