[forum] some XFree86 5.0 questions...

[Martijn Sipkema]

> You're trying to compare apples with oranges.  Xft is just a new way of
> placing specific glyphs at specific locations on the screen while STSF is
a
> whole text layout system that computes the location for the glyphs based
on
> complex information available in modern font formats like OpenType's GSUB
> and GPOS tables.

Not really. Maybe if Xft is an apple then STSF is an apple and an orange,
but there is overlap between the two, right?

> STSF is much more comparable with Pango in it's functionality.  These are
> "text layout engines", and only a few of them have been deployed anywhere.
> Because this area of work is so new, I hope we'll see lots of different
> ideas explored so that we can get a sense of what things work best.  It
may
> be that in a while we'll all have a general agreement on the basic
> operations of the system and may be able to standardize on a single
> interface, but I think it's imprudent to just pick one now and hope it all
> works out.

I agree. But doesn't this also apply to the font rendering, i.e. using
Xft with RENDER or using XST?

> I will say that I hope STSF can take advantage of what we've learned about
> handling fonts entirely on the client side of the wire.

Could you provide more information as to why handling fonts on the
client side is better? I'd think a font server has some advantages.

--ms