Patch for 1.4.9

[Han-Wen Nienhuys]

address@hidden writes:
> Hi,
> 
> Here comes a small collection of patches for 1.4.9.
> Some of them have already appeared on the lists, but
> I included them just to be sure.
> Of course, they apply equally well to 1.5.x.
> 
> The patch of the breathe marks, is just a suggestion, 
> if you approve of it, I'll try to add some more feta
> symbols.

I put the patch in, but  I would prefer the following setup:

* breath marks look like a tick or a V, where the point of the V is
  inside the staff.  Perhaps you can experiment. With handwriting, the
  left part is curved and the right part is usually longer and tapers
  off.

* phrasing marks look like a comma.

Also, I'm a little reluctant with accepting new contributions for the
font. Some of our own (by Jan and me) glyphs and almost all external
contributions (eg. Coda signs, accordion symbols) are rather ugly and
detriment the overall appearance of the printed output.  We've decided
to be more strict with accepting font entries.

To be more explicit about the font, glyphs in the feta font should
have the following properties:

* No sharp outside angles. (eg. the top of the G-clef is wrong, many
  of the mensural shapes, many of the note heads)

  Use a pencircle scaled by blotdiameter to achieve a nice and rounded
  look.

* Preferably, no sharp inside angles (errors visible are in 8th and
  shorter rests, the bulbs on G and F clef)

* Be balanced. This *hard*

  Make feta-test20.dvi and view the screen from a distance, with half
  closed eyes.  Print out the glyph in various sizes, and observe it
  from the distance. Does it fall over on the left side or the right
  side?  Is the rhythm regular?

  Also note that many signs are always used with stafflines, so to
  view them, you should print stafflines around them as well.

  The Segno sign for instance, besides having sharp corners, topples
  over to the left side. The S from accordion SB falls over to the
  right side.

  The TAB sign is also off balance. The B is too far to the left and
  looks vertically squashed compared to T and A. Also note the sharp
  corners (booh!)

* Have no clotting. For instance, look at the > accent.  The right
  half of the accent has tapered lines, so that you don't get a black
  blot where the lines meet. This is good. The upbow sign is bad in
  this respect.

In short, we want to have the nicest music font in the world, and I
won't accept any more quicky glyph jobs.


-- 

Han-Wen Nienhuys   |   address@hidden    | http://www.cs.uu.nl/~hanwen/