A few questions about EB Garamond...

Figaro
Figaro Posts: 5
edited August 11 in Type Design Critiques
I've just bought a Windows computer with Microsoft Word and I would like the install EB Garamond in ttf format. The problem is that this font can be downloaded from multiple sources:
I suppose each source features a different "flavour" of the typeface. Hence my questions:
1. What is the most recent/complete/tested version of EB Garamond?
2. Can you tell me something about future developments of this beautiful free typeface? Who is the curent lead-designer?
3. What are, in your opinion, its strengths and weaknesses?
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Comments

  • Thomas Phinney
    Thomas Phinney Posts: 3,049
    Georg created it.
    Octavio did further work on it, commissioned by Google Fonts.
    Google Fonts hosts Octavio’s version.

    This Wikipedia article has more details on the development of the typeface: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EB_Garamond
  • michele casanova
    michele casanova Posts: 60
    edited 10:55AM
    1. What is the most recent/complete/tested version of EB Garamond?
    I think the most complete is that of Octavio Pardo
    2. Can you tell me something about future developments of this beautiful free typeface? Who is the curent lead-designer?
    As you can see on GitHub, Octavio Pardo's repository hasn't been updated since 2021.
    Between April and May 2023, Georg Mayr-Duffner created a "Todo list for v2", but there have been no further developments since then.
    Just for fun, I'll also mention my fork on github. This is a layman's experiment to fix some minor issues, and is open to suggestions for improvements.
    3. What are, in your opinion, its strengths and weaknesses?
    I think the strengths are quite clear :)
    As for the weaknesses, I used the issues in the two repositories as a starting point for developing my fork.
  • Figaro
    Figaro Posts: 5
    @ michele casanova:

    Your fork is a gem! Do you plan to submit Garamontio to Google fonts in the future?

    You say that the ultimate version of EB Garamond is the Pardo's version. I know the history of EB Garamond, but I suspect that the version currently abailable from Google Fonts is not identical to the version available from Pardo's repository.
  • michele casanova
    michele casanova Posts: 60
    edited 10:55AM
    @Figaro I don't think GF is interested in a duplicate of an existing font, and one made by a simple enthusiast :)
    It's possible that the version on GF is slightly different from the one in Octavio Pardo's repository. It seems to me that the most complete version available in source files on GitHub is Octavio Pardo's.
  • Simon Cozens
    Simon Cozens Posts: 798
    Figaro said:
    I suspect that the version currently abailable from Google Fonts is not identical to the version available from Pardo's repository.
    I wouldn't be too sure; the metadata file suggests that it is up to date.
  • Figaro
    Figaro Posts: 5
    Simon Cozens said:
    Figaro said:
    I suspect that the version currently abailable from Google Fonts is not identical to the version available from Pardo's repository.
    I wouldn't be too sure; the metadata file suggests that it is up to date.

    Thanks for the link. Anyway, if I understand correctly, it's possible that Google will make changes to EB Garamond using a different designer than Pardo. In theory Google could also incorporate in EB Garamond the new features of Garamontio...

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