[scribus] OT: Font Designer

[Asif Lodhi]

Hi Greg and Pierre,

On 12/11/08, Gregory Pittman <gpittman at iglou.com> wrote:
> Asif Lodhi wrote:
>> ... links to FREE and/or Open Source Font Designing Software applications ...
>>
> ... Creating fonts is no trivial matter, ...
> So I would think it might be a good idea to further investigate what
> font design is all about and its difficulties first.

Thanks for the feedback. Here is what I have to say: I am a Pakistani
and live in Karachi. There is NO free Urdu (Pakistan's national
language which is 90% Hindi and 10% Persian+Arabic but with
Persian/Arabic complex script/font) font available here - the free
fonts which are available on the Internet look like they were created
by some toddlers trying to learn how to write the Urdu the first time.
Neither is there any free DTP (or wordprocessing ... or ANY!) software
with Urdu (complex script) support. Most people use an Indian software
(which has a price tag) for Urdu DTP needs. I believe free Urdu
fonts/software can bring about a substantial change as far as
education is concerned - it can bring a radical change to the lives of
poor people.

Lack of education is the primary cause of all problems in my country.
Though I have not designed any fonts but I have drawn/painted lots of
pictures/sceneries with pencils/crayons/water since my childhood. I
feel I can do something with the FontDesigning software. I am
completely clueless when it comes to terminology and technicalities of
this domain but trying to learn font-designing to come up with a good
free complex script Urdu font is less non-trivial than having to see
the chaos created by the lack of education.

I hope you can feel my frustration. I am willing to learn font
designing and design a free complex script Urdu font whenever I can
find time.

I need to know whether FontForge can be used to develop complex script
fonts. I would be thankful if anyone can tell me about more font
designing resources.


Thank you,

-Asif