[Pkg-fonts-devel] Bug#680936: package description too historical

[Justin B Rye]

Martin Eberhard Schauer wrote:
> the times they are a changin' … Until today I felt I could unconditionally
> rely on the "JBR patch" ;-)

I felt fairly sure it would need a couple more drafts anyway.
 
>>> New Greek font family with matching Latin
> 
>>> New Hellenic is a round, and almost monoline Greek font family. It consists
>>> of several weights (normal, italic, bold and bold italic) as well as a latin
>>> version.
> 
>> New Greek font family with matching Latin
>> ^
>> Bear in mind that DevRef says not to capitalise the first word of the
>> synopsis.
> 
> Well, the international (TM) "German core team" (AT/DE) was not aware of DevRef
> when it started its work.

And yet this package description does have a DevRef-compliant
synopsis; I'm just trying to keep out any extra glitches.

>>> New Hellenic is a round, and almost monoline Greek font family. It …
> 
>> This is a much better place to start, though skipping all the stuff
>> about the British Museum does make it unclear how this is a "new"
>> Greek font family - would "modern" make more sense?
> 
> I suggest introducing a shortened version of the British Museum stuff which
> explains that New Hellenic is (just) a name.

It's not the "neo" in the package name that I'm worried about so much
as the "new Greek font family" in the synopsis.
 
>> I might also mention that as a non-specialist I had no idea what
>> "monoline" means - Wikipedia redirects me to a page on financial
>> insurance...
> 
> Perhaps it is just a mistake and the author wanted to say monospaced.

No, apparently there is such a term, it's just obscure - see e.g.:

http://www.slideshare.net/nstrehlow/monoline-1079080

(meanwhile the online dictionaries tell me it's a kind of railway).
Oh, when the description says that New Hellenic is "round", does that
mean the letterforms or the pen tip?  Either way, it's not much
information.  Does it have serifs, for instance?

Ah, there's a lovely sample here:
http://electioeditions.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/new-book-planned-for-late-2012.html

> Here is my suggestion (based also on comments not cited, text within []
> optional):
> 
> [new] Greek font family with matching Latin
> In 1927 Victor Scholderer, curator of the incunabula section in the
> British Museum Library, chose a font following the needs of the
> Classical Studies in the major European Universities, called "New

No, "following the needs of the Classical Studies" is what the "old"
fonts were all about.

> Hellenic". [It was the only successful typeface in Great Britain
> well over a century before.] In 1993-4 the typeface was digitized
> by the Greek Font Society, with the addition of a new set of
> epigraphic symbols.
> 
> After having a second glance at my proposal, there is font information
> missing:
> 
> He chose the revival of a round, and almost monoline type which had
> first appeared in 1492 in the edition of Macrobius, ascribable to
> the printing shop of Giovanni Rosso (Joannes Rubeus) in Venice.
> 
> Perhaps
> 
> New Hellenic has its origins in the printing shop of Giovanni Rosso
> (Joannes Rubeus) in Venice.
> 
> This would have to be added.

I say start with the information about what the font is like and then
go on to where it came from (throwing out almost all the details).

 Description: new Greek font family with matching Latin
  New Hellenic is a Greek font family characterized by round, even pen
  strokes. It consists of several weights (normal, italic, bold and bold
  italic) as well as a Latin version.
  .
  Former Greek types had harked back to classical models. In 1927, Victor
  Scholderer chose instead to revive one which had first appeared in a
  1492 printing of Macrobius attributed to Joannes Rubeus. In 1993-4 the
  typeface was digitized by the Greek Font Society, with the addition of a
  new set of epigraphic symbols.

-- 
JBR	with qualifications in linguistics, experience as a Debian
	sysadmin, and probably no clue about this particular package