Ray Larabie

The term software can be confusing. Some people I've encountered have trouble understanding not only the concept but also the language embedding font software into application software. They don't seem to grasp the idea of software being added to software. They may not even know that an app is software. I'm sure there was a time when being a web or software developer required some knowledge of how computers work. But I've encountered people using kits that help them generate software applications with no technical knowledge required. They know that they've used the font in the app generation tool but they're not sure whether the font goes in to the app or if it's used to generate the app. E-book development tools don't explain to the author that font software is being embedded into a document. Is the book software? Replace font software with font or the font itself and I think it's going to be easier to grasp.

I feel like there was backlash against mechanical slanting in the 1990s up until recently as a reaction to application slanting and autoslanted typefaces that appeared in early DTP days. I think the association of mechanical slanting with cheapness is that's what fueled the shoehorning of sans serif italic affectations such as extra descenders, monocular a and g, looped e etc. Sometimes it worked but other times it was a style clash with the upright. Now I can look back at it and it seems like a silly fad. I think a similar kind of thing is happening now with optical slanting vs mechanical slanting. Not too long ago, I would make a technical grotesque like a DIN and optically slant it because mechanical slanting is consider lazy. But now optical slanting for some typefaces looks wrong to me. The are situations, DIN for example, where a mechanical slant looks better than an optical slant. Has anyone else noticed this?

The ogonek under the A is reversed. Some ogonek tips here: Polish Diacritics: How to?

I haven't tried this myself but maybe Font Squirrel Webfont Generator's OpenType flattening feature could be used to convert to a flattened TTF for desktop use. fontsquirrel.com/tools/webfont-generator

Font distributors take longer to launch fonts in July and August. If you launch in August, there's a good chance it won't be released until September. Also, I imagine a lot of type designers hold off on releasing summer projects until September to avoid those slow sales months. The result is that in the first couple of weeks in September, there'a a deluge of new font releases so that's a good time for your new release to get lost in the crowd.