Talk: Reduce the no. of flf files but INCREASE the no. of fonts!

Brad <syb...@aber.ac.uk> writes:

>On 12 Oct 1994, Bob Allison wrote:

Subject was: Talk: Number of Figlet fonts

>>    I think there are over 90 fonts right now.
>
>	Well, I've got 96, and I think there are one or two more out
>there. And advancement? :)

 *****************************************************************
 *                                                               *
 * There is an almost UNLIMITED number of fonts possible - and I *
 * say this while advocating a REDUCTION in the number of flf    *
 * files that are now available!!!!                              *
 *                                                               *
 *****************************************************************

Anthony Thysson has suggested (in the figlet email list) that
many fonts are very similar, with most differences being a
simple traslation of one character (or pattern of characters)
with another.

For example, it's possible to get an exact reproduction of one
font by piping the output of a similar font though the unix tr
comand.  (Check "man tr" if you don't know of this command).
(And BTW, there IS a dos version of tr available at Simtel -
oak.oakland.edu :: /SimTel/msdos/textutil/tr112.zip).

So a great many fonts are redundant!

For an example of this, check out all the banner fonts - they
are nearly identical except for the translation of one character
pattern for another.

In fact, this is a GREAT idea for a future improvement to figlet
- have a "built-in" tr command (via a command-line switch and/or
use of "figlet control files") so that one character (or
pattern of characters) can be translated into another!  That
way, you immediately reduce the number of fonts (and they DO
take up a lot of disk space!!!), while at the same time
increasing the versatility and variability of the number of
possible fonts that are possible, all from a single set of
"basic" fonts!

(Sorry Glenn... yet *another* suggestion to put on your
improvements-to-figlet-list! :-)

This is one of the current problems with figlet - too many damn
fonts that take up too much damn room - a pain to choose an
appropriate font, and a pain when dealing with trying to keep
a reasonable number of fonts in an account with a limited quota
space!

There was some discussion a while ago to have "compressed font
files" to deal with the space font files took up.

This idea is a great alternative (or adjunct) to this problem.

Another point - most of the fonts I like to use are the smaller
ones. The bigger fonts, while looking nice, just tend to "scroll
off" the line and break up words!

What font authors need to do is concentrate on developing a set
of basic fonts (or reviewing the current fonts) to concentrate
on the basic style (eg straight or slanted etc) and the SIZE (ie
height and width) of the fonts.  The actual result of the font
may be relatively simple, but with imaginative use of the "tr"
command, all sorts of interesting fonts become possible.

Of course, there are several fonts that are rather unique and
wouldn't fit into the category of being "basic" (acrobatic.flf
comes immediately to mind), but the general principle holds.

My humble $0.05 worth anyhow (they don't have 1c or 2c coins here
in Australia any more:)

Cheers
Tony
                />
  Tony Nugent \/<   /    Griffith University, Nathan, Brisbane, Qld, Australia
 -{\\\\<#>\\\\(*)XXX<:::<====================================================-
              /\<   \    T.N...@sct.gu.edu.au    tnu...@gucis.cit.gu.edu.au
                \>

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