FONTLOG
Charis SIL font family
========================
This file provides detailed information on the Charis SIL family of fonts.
This information should be distributed along with the Charis SIL fonts and
any derivative works.
Basic Font Information
----------------------
Charis is similar to Bitstream Charter, one of the first fonts designed
specifically for laser printers. It is highly readable and holds up well in
less-than-ideal reproduction environments. It also has a full set of styles
- regular, italic, bold, bold italic - and so is more useful in general
publishing than Doulos SIL. Charis is a serif proportionally spaced font
optimized for readability in long printed documents.
The goal for this product was to provide a single Unicode-based font family
that would contain a comprehensive inventory of glyphs needed for almost any
Roman- or Cyrillic-based writing system, whether used for phonetic or
orthographic needs. In addition, there is provision for other characters and
symbols useful to linguists. This font makes use of state-of-the-art font
technologies to support complex typographic issues, such as the need to
position arbitrary combinations of base glyphs and diacritics optimally.
Four fonts from this typeface family are included in this release:
* Charis SIL Regular
* Charis SIL Bold
* Charis SIL Italic
* Charis SIL Bold Italic
The design of the basic character set of Charis SIL is similar (but not
identical) to Bitstream Charter, designed by Matthew Carter. The following
notice accompanied the Charter fonts:
(c) Copyright 1989-1992, Bitstream Inc., Cambridge, MA.
You are hereby granted permission under all Bitstream propriety rights to
use, copy, modify, sublicense, sell, and redistribute the 4 Bitstream
Charter (r) Type 1 outline fonts and the 4 Courier Type 1 outline fonts
for any purpose and without restriction; provided, that this notice is left
intact on all copies of such fonts and that Bitstream's trademark is
acknowledged as shown below on all unmodified copies of the 4 Charter
Type 1 fonts.
BITSTREAM CHARTER is a registered trademark of Bitstream Inc.
SIL International is the creator of the Charis SIL fonts, and is the owner
of all proprietary rights therein.
A Note Regarding the Open Font License and TypeTuner
----------------------------------------------------
The OFL prohibits the use of Reserved Font Names "Charis" and "SIL" in
the name of any font that is derived from the Original Version of Charis
SIL. However, SIL International (the Copyright Holder) grants through
this separate written agreement the right to use the Reserved Font Names
in any Modified Version of this font created by using TypeTuner as long
as the feature information contained in the Original Version is used,
unmodified, as the source for TypeTuner feature information, and
"Charis SIL" is not the resulting font family name.
TypeTuner-produced fonts created in this manner are still bound by the
terms of the OFL. Specifically, the use of Reserved Font Names is
prohibited when making derivatives of a TypeTuner-produced font. Anyone
making a derivative of a TypeTuner font will need to find a different
name. For example a TypeTuner-produced font may be named
"Charis SIL Literacy SomeFarAwayPlace" but a derivative of that font made
with other tools would not be allowed to use the "Charis" and "SIL"
Reserved Font Names and would have to be named something like "Grace Foo".
ChangeLog
---------
(This should list both major and minor changes, most recent first.)
1 August 2012 (SIL NRSI team) Charis SIL version 4.112
- Changed Graphite feature identifiers from integers to 4-character
alphanumeric tags (no other changes)
12 September 2011 (SIL NRSI team) Charis SIL version 4.110
- Removed the VDMX table
- Changed version number (using ttfsetver)
25 Aug 2011 (SIL NRSI team) Charis SIL version 4.108
- Double-encoded the SIL PUA characters which were added to Unicode 5.2 and 6.0
(using ttfremap)
- Encoded 1D29 (using ttfremap)
- Corrected problem with coverage tables (using ttfsortcover)
- Changed version number (using ttfsetver)
- Added device metric tables
- Added an empty dsig table
05 May 2009 (Alan Ward) Charis SIL version 4.106
- TypeTuner (Silt) table changed so that line metrics from legacy fonts
can be imported
20 March 2009 (SIL NRSI team) Charis SIL version 4.106
- Added support for Unicode 5.1 Latin and Cyrillic additions
- Other characters added: 0462, 0463, 0474, 0475, 0524, 0525, 20E5, 2203, 2204,
231C..U+231F, 2329, 232A, 239B..23AD, A722..U+A725
- Added PUA characters F26B, F32C, F32D
- Design changes: 002F, 00A1, 00BF, 02D0, 02ED, 02FF, 034B, 04A8, 04A9, 04BC,
04BD, 04BE, 04BF, 04E0, 04E1, 045F, 04AA, 04AB, F208, F209, 0358
- Fixed attachment points on 1D68, 1D69, 1D6A, 04FA, 04FB, fi and fl ligatures
- Fixed collision issues for Vietnamese glyphs 'with horn'
- Fixed advance of t-caron
- Feature modifications:
* new alternates added to feature ID 1033 and renamed from Small v-hook
alternate
to V-hook alternates
* new alternate U+2C65 LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH STROKE added to
Literacy alternates feature
* default for Diacritic selection was changed from "on" to "off"
(by request of FieldWorks team)
- Added new features:
* Small Caps
* Non-European caron alternates
* Capital B-hook alternate
* Show deprecated PUA
- Slant italic bug fixed (dot on i was not disappearing with combining marks)
- Removal of about 700 unused glyphs (including precomposed chao tone letters
which were no longer needed since these are now dynamically created)
- Fixed issues: kern table error, usMaxContext and yMax errors
- Several OpenType issues fixed
- Graphite reordering bug fixed
- Automated AAT build process
- Changed OFL license to version 1.1
9 May 2008 (SIL NRSI team) Charis SIL version 4.104
- Double-encoded the SIL PUA characters which were added to Unicode 5.1
(using ttfremap)
- Changed version number (using ttfsetver)
16 Aug 2007 (SIL NRSI team) Charis SIL version 4.102
- Modified the OpenType features so that InDesign's built-in small caps work
31 Jan 2007 (SIL NRSI team) Charis SIL version 4.100
- Added PUA character F26A
- Added 2308, 2309
- Removed Cyrillic italic alternates feature and added those 3 characters to the
slant italic specials feature
- Fixed bug in nine-level tones (in PUA) feature
- Made Chinantec tones larger, added 02C9 to this feature
- Fixed bug in GSUB table to work in Pango
15 Dec 2006 (SIL NRSI team) Charis SIL version 4.0.04 beta 1 (Version 4.004)
- Beta release (should not be distributed!)
- Added support for Unicode 5 Latin and Cyrillic additions
- Other new chars: 2053, 211F, 2123, 2423, FE20..FE23
- Numerous new PUA characters
- Deprecated some existing PUA chars now added to Unicode
- New features:
- Open O alternate
- Chinantec tones
- Pitch contour tramlines
- Cyrillic italic alternates
- Tone bars no longer limited to 3 sequences (OpenType)
- Added glyphs for nine-level tones (in PUA)
- Design changes to some Greek, Cyrillic, ogonek and modifier glyphs,
particularly in italic faces
31 Jan 2006 (SIL NRSI team) Charis SIL version 4.0.02 (Version 4.002)
- First version released under the SIL Open Font License
Information for Contributors
----------------------------
The release of Charis SIL version 4.0.02 (Version 4.002) (and any subsequent
versions) under the OFL license provides a means for people to modify the fonts
to meet their needs and contribute to the project. For information on what
you're allowed to change or modify, consult the OFL and OFL-FAQ.
Anyone can make their own modified version of Charis SIL (using a different
name), but SIL International will continue to maintain and develop the
canonical version of the Charis SIL fonts. As the package maintainer, we
welcome contributions. Here are some things to keep in mind:
Format: We are open to contributions in various formats, but if you want to
maximise the chances of us including your work, please make it available to
us (via email or a URL) as either a FontLab database (preferred) or a
PostScript Type 1 (or OT-CFF) font.
Source files: We are not yet making the extended source files available, because
our build system is rather complex and difficult to reproduce. We hope to
include an easier process in the future.
Copyright attribution: If you submit something for inclusion in the main
Charis SIL fonts, we will ask you to affirm that it is your original work,
and ask you to assign the copyright of your work to SIL International. This
is to ensure that future releases can be made under improved versions of the
OFL without needing to track you down for further permission. This follows
the same principle used by the FSF. Keep in mind that we are a
not-for-profit organization committed to free/libre and open source
software, and that any contributions incorporated in the fonts will always
be available under the OFL or a similar license.
Quality: Because we want to be able to guarantee a high level of quality for
the primary Charis SIL fonts, we will review submissions carefully. Please
don't be discouraged if we do not include a submission for this reason, or
ask you to make specific revisions.
Types of contributions: If you wish to make a contribution - a set of
additional glyphs, scripts, code, etc. - please contact us before you do any
work to see if it is a contribution we currently need. Every addition adds
to the complexity of the project and needs to be carefully planned. This
also avoids two people working on the same type of addition at the same time.
Linux packages: Please contact the upstream maintainer of the various
packages - nicolas_spalinger@sil.org - if you want to help package or
maintain a package.
When submissions will be included: We plan to revise the fonts when major
updates are needed (eg new versions of Unicode). If you wish to make
submissions, contact us on the timing.
Acknowledgements
----------------
(Here is where contributors can be acknowledged. If you make modifications
be sure to add your name (N), email (E), web-address (W) and description
(D). This list is sorted by last name in alphabetical order.)
N: Walt Agee, Miriam Martin, Annie Olsen, Victor Gaultney, Lorna Priest,
Alan Ward, Bob Hallissy, Martin Hosken, Sharon Correll, Jon Coblentz,
Jonathan Kew
E: fonts@sil.org
W: http://scripts.sil.org/
D: SIL designers and font engineers
The Charis SIL project is maintained by SIL International.
For more information please visit the Charis SIL page on SIL International's
Computers and Writing systems website:
http://scripts.sil.org/CharisSILfont
Or send an email to fonts@sil.org