GENTIUM-FAQ<br />
<br />
Gentium Release 1.02<br />
<br />
28 November 2005<br />
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Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about the Gentium fonts:<br />
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General<br />
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========<br />
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How do you pronounce Gentium?<br />
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	The preferred pronunciation is with a soft G as in 'general', not a<br />
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	hard one as in 'gold': JEN-tee-oom.<br />
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What is GentiumAlt?<br />
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	It is a version of the font with redesigned diacritics (flatter<br />
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	ones) to make it more suitable for use with stacking diacritics, and<br />
<br />
	for languages such as Vietnamese. The Greek glyphs also use the<br />
<br />
	Porsonic (single-curve) design for the circumflex. Since Gentium<br />
<br />
	does not currently include any 'smart' rendering routines, there is<br />
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	no easy way to access these alternate diacritic shapes from within<br />
<br />
	the regular Gentium font. The encoding of the fonts are the same, so<br />
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	the same text can be viewed with either one. There is also no<br />
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	problem with having both font families installed at the same time.<br />
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Licensing<br />
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=========<br />
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I want to use Gentium in my publication - can I?<br />
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	Gentium is released under the SIL Open Font License, which permits use<br />
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	for any publication, whether electronic or printed. For more answers<br />
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	to use questions see the OFL-FAQ. The license, alongside information<br />
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	specific to Gentium, is in the release package.<br />
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I would like to bundle Gentium with my application - can I?<br />
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	This is our most common question. The SIL Open Font License allows<br />
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	bundling with applications, even commercial ones, with some restrictions.<br />
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	See the OFL file.<br />
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Can I use the font on my web site?<br />
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	You can certainly create web pages that request that Gentium be used to<br />
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	display them (if that font is available on the user's system). According<br />
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	to the license, you are even allowed to place the font on your site for<br />
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	people to download it. We would strongly recommend, however, that you<br />
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	direct users to our site to download the font. This ensures that they<br />
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	are always using the most recent version with bug fixes, etc. To make<br />
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	this easier, we've simplified the URL for Gentium:<br />
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	http://scripts.sil.org/gentium<br />
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Is Gentium going to stay free?<br />
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	There is no intention to ever charge users for using Gentium. The<br />
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	current version is licensed under a free/open license and future<br />
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	versions will be similar.<br />
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Modification<br />
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============<br />
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I would like to modify Gentium to add a couple of characters I need. Can I?<br />
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	Yes - that is allowed as long as you abide by the conditions of the<br />
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	SIL Open Font License.<br />
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So will you add glyphs upon request?<br />
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	If you have a special symbol that you need (say, for a particular<br />
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	transcription system), the best means of doing so will be to ensure<br />
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	that the symbol makes it into the Unicode Standard. It is impossible<br />
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	for us to add every glyph that every person desires, but we do place<br />
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	a high priority on adding pretty much anything that falls in certain<br />
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	Unicode ranges (extended Latin, Greek, Cyrillic). You can send us your<br />
<br />
	requests, but please understand that we are unlikely to add symbols<br />
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	where the user base is very small, unless they have been accepted<br />
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	into Unicode.<br />
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Can I send you work I've done to be incorporated into Gentium?<br />
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	Yes! See the FONTLOG for information on becoming a contributor.<br />
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Technical<br />
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Can you help me get Gentium working on my system?<br />
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	We cannot afford to offer individual technical support. The best<br />
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	resource is this website, where we hope to offer some limited help.<br />
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	However, we do want to hear of any problems you encounter, so that<br />
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	we can add them to the list of bugs to fix in later releases.<br />
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	Our contact address is <gentium AT sil DOT org>.  Please understand<br />
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	that we cannot guarantee a personal response.<br />
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I can't find all the extended Latin letters in the font. How do I type them?<br />
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	Gentium is Unicode-encoded, which means that the computer stores a<br />
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	special, unique code for each letter in your document. Since most<br />
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	keyboards do not have hundreds of keys, special software is needed<br />
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	in order to type the hundreds of special characters supported by the<br />
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	font. <br />
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I can't find the 'o with right hook' in the font. Where is it?<br />
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	Combinations of base letters with diacritics are often called<br />
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	composite, or pre-composed glyphs. Gentium has hundreds of these<br />
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	(the ones that are included in Unicode). There are, however, many<br />
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	common combinations that are not represented by a single composite.<br />
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	It is possible to enter these into a document, but only as<br />
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	individual components. So 'o with right hook' would be entered as<br />
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	'o', then 'right hook'. Although this may not look very good in some<br />
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	cases, we're not able to anticipate every possible combination.<br />
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	Future versions of Gentium will include 'smart font' support for<br />
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	technologies such as OpenType and SIL's Graphite. This will make<br />
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	diacritic positioning much better.<br />
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Some diacritics are not aligning well with base glyphs, and if I type more<br />
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than one diacritic, they run into each other. Why is that?<br />
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	Gentium currently has no 'smart font' code for automatic diacritic<br />
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	positioning, but will in the near future.<br />
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How do I type the Greek letters?<br />
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	You need a Unicode-compatible keyboarding system, which is not<br />
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	included in the distribution package. <br />
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	<br />
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I'm having problems making PDFs -- why won't my document distill?<br />
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	Gentium is a large font, with lots of glyphs. As a result, some<br />
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	printers can balk at PDFs that have the complete font embedded. The<br />
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	easiest way to avoid this is to have Acrobat/Distiller subset the<br />
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	font. This is generally a good idea anyway (with any font) and can<br />
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	reduce the size of your files.<br />
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Future<br />
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======<br />
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Now that SIL International has taken over Gentium, who will be the next<br />
<br />
designer?<br />
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	Victor Gaultney will remain as primary designer, but Annie Olsen, a<br />
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	fellow type designer from the SIL Non-Roman Script Initiative, has<br />
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	joined the project team. She is a former calligraphy teacher, and is<br />
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	well suited for the task. Other members of the NRSI team will also<br />
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	add their expertise in technical matters.<br />
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Do you plan to include other typographic enhancements (small caps, old style<br />
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figures, etc.)?<br />
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	Those would be nice, wouldn't they. From a design point of view,<br />
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	it would be great to have these refinements, and we haven't ruled<br />
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	them out. But there are other needs that are much higher priority<br />
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	(Bold, Cyrillic, etc.). If you think you could contribute some of<br />
<br />
	your time and effort to these enhancements, see the FONTLOG file for<br />
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	information on becoming a contributor.<br />
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What about bold?<br />
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	We hope to make a prototype of a Bold weight (and a few others,<br />
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	including italic) available soon, but it will only cover basic Latin<br />
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	glyphs at first. Once we are confident that the basic design is solid,<br />
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	we will begin to design the bold versions of the other hundreds of<br />
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	glyphs. Be patient, though, as Gentium has lots of glyphs!<br />
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	<br />
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Sans-serif?<br />
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	There is a definite need for a sans-serif font that shares some of<br />
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	GentiumÕs strengths -- high readability, economy of space, etc. It<br />
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	would also be great if that font also harmonized well with Gentium.<br />
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	We don't currently have any plans for a companion face, although one<br />
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	of our other projects - Andika - may be useful. Andika is a sans-serif<br />
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	font designed specifically for use in literacy programs around the<br />
<br />
	world. A prototype should be available in a few months.<br />
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Will you be extending Gentium to cover other scripts, and Hebrew in<br />
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particular?<br />
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	It is very unlikely that we would do this, as there are so many<br />
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	pressing needs in Latin, Greek and Cyrillic scripts. But you could<br />
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	contribute to the project.<br />
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	<br />
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When will Cyrillic be completed?<br />
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	As soon as we can get it done, but it is still a few months away. <br />
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I need a couple of ancient Greek glyphs, such as the digamma. When will<br />
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those be ready?<br />
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	These have already been designed and will be in the next release<br />
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	(mid-2006).<br />
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Will there be a Type 1 version? What about OpenType?<br />
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	The next generation of Gentium will have OpenType, Graphite and AAT<br />
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	support. We do not plan to produce Type 1 versions at this time, but<br />
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	please write us if this is important (and tell us why). We are, however,<br />
<br />
	considering releasing a version in OT-CFF format, but it will not go<br />
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	through the same careful testing as the standard OT/Graphite/AAT version.