Frank, Chris, I must admit that I'm too critic with my own macros and that I try to study every possible implication of them, even if finally they are unimportant. > > However, I found several problems. For example: > > - if I say \fontencoding{T1,OT1} we will get t1cmr which points to another > > font (ec) and not to a t1 encoded cmr, > > perhaps we should have that as a separate debate, but the ec fonts where > supposed to be extended cmr at least this is what they started out to be. I > know that Joerg in the end did one or the other change but at least the > original intention was that those fonts should have been indistinguishable on > their common subset of glyphs (and this is why in LaTeX they are considered > both family cm). > > if a lot of people think this is not the case then this opens an important > discussion about what to do with them, but it doesn't seem to me a criticism > or a problem with the general approach taken in my sample code. Actually, this is not a criticism to this approach, just an issue. While there are free PostScript ot1cmr fonts, there are only MF t1cmr ones, which to me is a huge difference. Sometimes I combine Palatino (T1) and cmtt (OT1), and \selectfont{T1,OT1} is not enough. The solution I took in my macros was to allow explicit declarations like: \SetFontEnconding{cmtt}{OT1} > > - more importantly, we lost the control of the final result, because > > a faked accented letter may be not exactly the same as an actual composite > > letter. It so happens that no TeX installations are the same and perhaps > > a different font in selected in another system just because a file has not > > been installed. > > but this is true already, isn't it? as of today a formatting of latex document > depends on a number of factors, one of which is the available fonts. so 100% > output compatibility is only achieved if you > > - have an identical set of fd files > - have identical metrics (this was especially with PostScript fonts an issue > in the past) > - actually have the fonts installed that the fd files and metrics are > pointing to. But TeX complains, except in the case of locally generated metrics. One of the solutions I considered was to generate a file recording the decisions taken in a system when a document is typeset, so that if we really want to ensure that TeX complains if there is a different configuration we can distribute that file with the main .tex ones. And after all if we really really want a certain layout the obvius solution is to distribute only a pdf file... > [Chris]-- differences in the metrics (these can cause major differences in > the typesetting). Yes, differences in the metrics, which can reshape the whole document. > if I now write a document and specify \fontencoding{T1} it might not run at > all at a site not having T1 fonts (though such a site is in theory not allowed > to exist) or it might switch to ec as default fonts, while with a range of > encodings i would get a result "closer" to the intended output. > > > also please note that my code (after your fix:-) does both: you can still > specify a single encoding and then only that encoding will get used ie you get > the situation as it is now where the user has total control (assuming that fd > files are the same). > > > Despite that, I think that is the right way, and I'm studying how to solve > > these issues. Any ideas? > > do you have any other issues than the two above? you mentioned them as "for > example". There are in part related to the fact that a language or a script can provide a set of default encogings. (Note: in the current draft for Lambda there are files for both languages and scripts). But I think that: > also please note that my code (after your fix:-) does both: you can still > specify a single encoding and then only that encoding will get used ie you get > the situation as it is now where the user has total control (assuming that fd > files are the same). is the best solution. Cheers Javier ______________________________________________________________________________ Consigue tu cuenta de correo universal y gratuita en http://webmail.wanadoo.es