1 Version 1.5 (XXXX-XX-XX)
2 ------------------------
4 * Support for Khmer, Myanmar, and Bengali scripts.
6 * Improved Devanagari hinting.
8 * ttfautohintGUI can now be compiled with Qt5.
10 * Bug fix: Too many delta control instructions for a single glyph caused
11 a bytecode stack overflow, making the MS rasterizer ignore all hinting
12 instructions for this glyph.
14 * Bug fix: Don't create multiple `TTFA` tables in font.
17 Version 1.4.1 (2015-Oct-17)
18 ---------------------------
20 * A bug in handling control instruction files could cause severe glyph
21 shape distortions of accent-like glyphs. All users should update.
24 Version 1.4 (2015-Oct-04)
25 -------------------------
27 * Support for Thai and Lao scripts.
29 * Support for the Arabic script.
31 * Better support for scripts that contain superscript-like and
32 subscript-like glyphs, e.g., the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
34 * Accents and other `non-base' glyphs are now hinted without snapping to
37 * A new control instruction syntax form was added to adjust the mapping
38 between glyphs and styles. Right now, its usage is quite limited; a
39 forthcoming version will give much more flexibility.
41 * The `touch` keyword in a control instructions file was buggy: If used for
42 a point\ `P` at a ppem value\ `s`, it sometimes led to unwanted movements
43 of\ `P` for ppem values unequal to\ `s`, thus causing outline distortions.
46 Version 1.3 (2015-Jan-06)
47 -------------------------
49 * Keywords in control instruction files can be more verbose to increase
50 readability. You can now use `left`, `right`, `nodir`, `point`, `touch`,
51 `xshift`, and `yshift` for `l`, `r`, `n`, `p`, `t, `x`, and `y`,
54 * A new control instruction keyword `touch` was added to apply delta
55 instructions before the final IUP bytecode commands, also `touching' the
56 affected points (to use the TrueType instructions terminology). Such
57 deltas *do* work even with ClearType if applied to the non-ClearType
60 * Support for the Telugu script.
62 * The amount of information about ttfautohint and its parameters that gets
63 added to the `name` table by default has been reduced. A new option
64 `--detailed-info` restores the previous behaviour.
66 * ttfautohintGUI crashed if not used with a control instruction file.
68 * ttfautohintGUI now correctly switches to a horizontal two-column layout if
69 the standard one-column layout would exceed the screen height.
71 * A new option `--family-suffix` makes it possible to append a suffix to a
72 font's family name in the `name` table. This can be useful during the
73 development process: It helps the operating system to simultaneously
74 display several instances of a font that are processed with different
75 ttfautohint parameters.
77 * The new library option `info-post-callback` helps in processing data from
81 Version 1.2 (2014-Oct-06)
82 -------------------------
84 * It is now possible to control the hinting process at a very low level
85 using a 'control instructions' file. Right now, two modes are supported:
87 - Adding segments and changing segment directions.
89 - Applying delta exceptions. Note that this doesn't really work in
92 Please see the documentation for a description and a small tutorial.
94 In the command-line front-end, use option `--control-file` to load such a
97 * Support for input file watching in ttfautohintGUI: If the 'Watch Input
98 File' box is checked, the program automatically regenerates the output
99 file as soon as the input font or control instructions file gets modified.
101 The idea is to dock ttfautohintGUI to your favourite font and text editor
102 instead of adding a cheap text editor to ttfautohintGUI itself.
104 * With the new option `--fallback-stem-width` it is now possible to set a
105 default stem width for all scripts that lack proper standard characters in
108 * Add alias `--adjust-subglyphs` for option `--pre-hinting` to better
109 describe its functionality. The short form `-p` stays unchanged.
111 * New option `--ttfa-table` to add an SFNT table `TTFA` to the output font,
112 containing an ASCII dump of all used ttfautohint parameters (including
113 control instructions). Right now, this is mainly for archiving purposes.
114 Forthcoming versions of ttfautohint will be able to re-use this data if a
115 font gets re-processed.
117 * A harmless buglet was fixed that made the `glyf` table too large by one
118 byte under some circumstances.
120 * A bug fix taken from FreeType, correcting a crash for unusual outlines.
122 * Better handling of TTC files.
124 * New library options `error-callback` and `error-callback-data` for
125 improved diagnostics. [No change in the front-ends except better error
128 * Many other, minor fixes and improvements.
131 Version 1.1 (2014-May-05)
132 -------------------------
134 * Support for the Devanagari script.
136 * Bug fixes in the computation of strong stem widths. GDI hinting now gives
137 much more consistent results.
139 * Better recognition of script coverage: ttfautohint now properly scans
140 composite glyphs to cover components also.
142 * Improved glyph shape analysis: Non-flat local extrema are now recognized
143 more reliably, and stem detection works better.
146 Version 1.00 (2014-Mar-20)
147 --------------------------
149 * Much less memory consumption while handling fonts with complicated glyphs.
151 * Option `-s` was partially broken.
154 Version 1.00rc1 (2014-Feb-07)
155 -----------------------------
157 * OpenType feature support. ttfautohint now uses the HarfBuzz library to
158 analyze data from the `GSUB` table. This allows the hinting of glyphs
159 that don't have an entry in a font's `cmap` table, for example
160 superscripts or small caps.
162 Related to this, the new option `--default-script` controls the default
163 (fallback) script used for OpenType features.
165 * More than a single standard character is used. For example, the 'latin'
166 script uses characters 'o', 'O', and digit '0'. This improves the hinting
167 of fonts (and features) that have only a partial coverage of a script's
168 character repertoire.
170 * Much better GDI ClearType hinting in the range 30-80ppem (approx.),
171 avoiding overly flat tops and bottoms of round glyphs.
173 * Better handling of non-square pixels (this is, horizontal and vertical
174 resolutions differ) in the created TrueType bytecode.
177 Version 0.97 (2013-Nov-09)
178 --------------------------
180 * Improved script support. Besides Cyrillic and Greek, which are now
181 handled separately from Latin, ttfautohint can handle Hebrew.
183 * Option `-f` now takes a parameter to specify the fallback script. The
184 corresponding long option name has been renamed from `--latin-fallback` to
187 * Work around a bug in display environments that use FreeType 2.5.0 and
188 earlier for rendering: Sometimes, the 'strong' stem width routine was used
189 for DW ClearType (this is, subpixel hinting in FreeType is enabled) even
190 if 'smooth' was selected while generating the font with ttfautohint.
193 Version 0.96 (2013-Aug-06)
194 --------------------------
196 * Option `--components` has been replaced with `--composites`: By default,
197 the components of a composite glyph are now hinted separately, since tests
198 has shown that this gives good results in most cases. If this option is
199 set, however, the composite glyph itself gets hinted (and the hints of the
200 components are ignored).
202 An unfortunate side effect is that ttfautohint's option `-c` (which stays
203 as a shorthand for `--composites`) now does exactly the opposite as in
206 * Older versions of Monotype's 'iType' bytecode interpreter have a serious
207 bug: The DIV instruction rounds the result, while the correct operation is
208 truncation. This caused 'exploding characters' with fonts hinted by
209 ttfautohint. Since many printers contain this rasterizer without any
210 possibility to update to a non-buggy version, ttfautohint now contains
211 work-arounds to circumvent the problem.
213 * Better support for glyphs where some points have almost the same position
214 (for example glyph 'Oslash' in font 'Roboto-Thin').
216 * Better support for glyphs that use explicit 'on' points around round
220 Version 0.95 (2013-Mar-07)
221 --------------------------
223 * New option `--dehint` to strip off all hints without generating new hints.
224 This option is intended for testing purposes.
226 * Minor fixes to the created bytecode for compatibility.
228 * Minor GUI improvements.
231 Version 0.94 (2012-Nov-29)
232 --------------------------
234 * New option `--windows-compatibility` that adds two artificial blue zones
235 at vertical positions given by 'usWinAscent' and 'usWinDescent'. This
236 helps ttfautohint's hinting algorithm reduce the possibility of clipping
237 if those two values are very tight.
239 * Implement option `--x-height-snapping-exceptions`, making ttfautohint
240 avoid x-height snapping for selected PPEM values. Useful in combination
241 with `--windows-compatibility`.
243 * Minor fixes to the created bytecode for compatibility and robustness.
246 Version 0.93 (2012-Oct-09)
247 --------------------------
249 * New option `--components` to treat components of composite glyphs
250 separately. This greatly reduces the bytecode size.
252 I'm waiting for reports whether this option works for most fonts; in case
253 this is true I'm inverting the option, making it the default (and the old
256 * Full support of TTCs, this is, all subfonts get auto-hinted now.
258 * The upper limit of the `--increase-x-height` option has been removed.
260 * Drag-and-drop support in the GUI.
262 * The command-line version of ttfautohint now acts like a (Unix) filter,
263 this is, it accepts stdin and stdout as input and output, respectively.
265 * Less memory consumption.
268 Version 0.92 (2012-Aug-07)
269 --------------------------
271 * A serious bug in the created bytecode has been fixed, causing incorrect
275 Version 0.91 (2012-Jul-12)
276 --------------------------
278 * A new, 'strong' routine to handle stem widths and positions has been
279 added, to be selected with the `--strong-stem-width` command line option.
280 If it is active, stem widths and positions are snapped to the grid as much
281 as possible. This algorithm is useful for GDI ClearType support.
283 * A new command line option `--debug` (not available for ttfautohintGUI) to
284 print very detailed debugging information.
287 Version 0.9 (2012-Jun-06)
288 -------------------------
290 * The created bytecode has been reduced in size, making it approx. 20%
293 * New option `--symbol` to use standard stem height and width values instead
294 of using character 'o' (which may be missing). Use this option for symbol
295 fonts or math glyphs.
297 * More documentation (in text, HTML, and PDF format). It's still
300 * Option `--ignore-permissions` has been renamed to `--ignore-restrictions`.
301 The short form is still `-i`.
303 * Defaults for various parameters have been set to more sensible values:
305 - hinting-range-max: 50 (was 1000)
306 - hinting-limit: 200 (was 1000)
308 * Option `--increase-x-height` now has a mandatory argument (in the range
309 6-20 or value\ 0 to disable it, default value is 14).
312 Version 0.8 (2012-Mar-21)
313 -------------------------
315 * Implement option `-x` to increase the x height of the font for small PPEM
316 values by rounding up far more often then rounding down.
318 * Add option '`-G n`' to switch off hinting completely above value\ `n`.
320 * ttfautohint now appends version information and the used parameters to the
321 'Version' field(s) in the 'name' table. This can be suppressed with
325 Version 0.7 (2012-Feb-05)
326 -------------------------
328 * A GUI has been added, using the Qt framework. The binary is called
332 Version 0.6.1 (2012-Jan-02)
333 ---------------------------
335 * The improved handling of composite glyphs in 0.6 was buggy under certain
336 circumstances, making ttfautohint crash and FontValidator complain.
338 * Dropout handling has been activated.
341 Version 0.6 (2011-Dec-25)
342 -------------------------
344 * Improved handling of composite glyphs.
346 * Implement option `-p` to pre-hint glyphs with original hints before
347 conversion takes place.
349 * Don't add a `DSIG` table if there is none in the input font.
351 * Human-readable error messages instead of hexadecimal error codes.
353 * Better tests (both at runtime and compile time) to reject too old FreeType
357 Version 0.5 (2011-Nov-06)
358 -------------------------
360 * Rendering on iOS is now expected to give good results.
362 * No bad rendering at very large PPEM values.
365 Version 0.4 (2011-Oct-27)
366 -------------------------
368 * The bytecode has been changed to 'create' twilight points. This should
369 avoid rendering artifacts on some platforms.
372 Version 0.3 (2011-Sep-09)
373 -------------------------
375 * Fix font generation; sometimes the `glyf` table was one byte too short,
376 making the font invalid.
379 Version 0.2 (2011-Jul-19)
380 -------------------------
382 * Fix bytecode bugs that prevented correct rendering on some platforms.
385 Version 0.1 (2011-Jun-30)
386 -------------------------