Open-source typefaces

aluminum · November 6, 2012

Open Source and Public Domain are legal intellectual property right concepts. Whether it's type or not is somewhat irrelevant.

My (limited) understanding of Public Domain is that it can get messy due to how it's defined from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

Open Source has one advantage over Public Domain in that (ideally) there is a clear license attached.

So, an OS product's use is dictated by its included license. A PD product's use is dictated by the laws in the jurisdiction the product belongs to.

At least in the US, if a property is public domain, you can take it and do whatever you want with it...give it away, resell it, redesign it, whatever.

Most open source licenses, however, (in the context of software) have a clause that any derivative software you make with it will need to retain the same open source license (either as a whole, meaning your entire product also needs to be open source, or as a noted credit for portion for your product, even if your bigger product uses a different license).

So, with type, I think one distinction could be that with a public domain typeface, I could take it, modify it, and sell it. With an open source typeface, I could take it, modify it, but would need to redistribute it with the same license as the original.

(Though the details all come down to the wording of the actual license, of course)

Té Rowan · November 6, 2012

HVB – The Open Source stuff is still copyrighted, which is why a licence is needed.

altsan – There's nothing 'seems to' about it. Old Standard and the Theano Classical Fonts are, in the author's own words, "released under the SIL Open Font License ...".

http://googlefontdirectory.googlecode.com/hg/ is the path to the Google Webfont Directory's Mercurial repository. The link 'ofl' takes you to the fonts/faces licensed under the SIL OFL. Usually, there are VFB and/or SFD files with the TTF/OTF files.

paul d hunt · November 6, 2012

Typowiki: Good Libre Fonts

Té Rowan · November 7, 2012

There are free and open-source fonts/faces to be had from:
Arkandis Digital Foundry
Association for Insight Meditation
CAT Design
The Crud Factory
George Douros
Greek Font Society
Janusz Nowacki
TypoShop ubs

Those from Douros and TCF are licensed in a way that resembles the WTFPL ("You may do Whatever The F* you want to with the Licensed Material.")

Renaissance Man · November 7, 2012

@ Té Rowan

There is still a lot of un- and badly-documented slang and jargon out there. Also, your infosheet was badly organised, with many assumptions. Using tags would have been more helpful, say:

Typeface:
Foundry:
License:
Designer:
Description:
Webfont URI:

Good tagging makes searches easier, too.

Té Rowan · November 8, 2012

Don't quit your day job yet, @Renny.

Renaissance Man · November 8, 2012

Oops, Reynir, your rules for me don't apply to you?

Té Rowan · November 8, 2012

Of course, if you want 50-60 typefaces documented that badly, there is always the DIY option.

Edit #1: On a second thought based on your infopost (which I understood only because I already knew), better I do it. At least I know it'll be done right, then.

Té Rowan · November 10, 2012

@Renaissance Man – YAFIYGI

Legend:

Fonts:
    H        Hair weight
    UL       Ultra-light weight
    XL       Extra-light weight
    L        Light weight
    T        Thin weight
    R        Regular or book weight
    M        Medium weight
    SB       Semi-bold (demi-bold) weight
    B        Bold weight
    XB       Extra-bold weight
    UB       Ultra-bold weight
    V        Heavy weight
    K        Black weight
    I        Italic style
    O        Oblique style
    Cond     Condensed width
    Norm     Normal width
    Exp      Expanded width

Format:
    T1       PostScript Type 1 (ATM font)
    OTF      CFF-flavoured OpenType
    TTF      TrueType or TT-flavoured OpenType
    WOFF     Web Open Font Format (web-only font format)
    SFD      FontForge's work file format
    SFDir    FontForge's work directory format
    UFO      RoboFont's work directory format
    VFB      Fontlab's work file format

Licensing:
    GPL      The Free Software Foundation's General Public License
    GPL2+    Ditto, version 2 or later
    LPPL     The LaTeX Project Public License
    OFL      SIL's Open Font License
    Utopia   Adobe's and TUG's collective Utopia licensing
    Vera     Bitstream's licence for the typeface Bitstream Vera


Typeface:    Accanthis ADF
Fonts:       4: R/RI/B/BI
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.008
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   GPL2+ with font exception
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Light, airy serif; resembles Cloister OldStyle

Typeface:    Accanthis ADF No2
Fonts:       4: R/RI/B/BI
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.008
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   GPL2+ with font exception
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Light, airy serif; quite garaldish

Typeface:    Accanthis ADF No3
Fonts:       4: R/RI/B/BI
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.008
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   GPL2+ with font exception
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Blend of Accanthis and Accanthis No2

Typeface:    Aurelis ADF No2
Fonts:       7: R/RI/B/BI, script I in Cond,Norm,Exp
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.008
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   GPL2+ with font exception
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Calligraphic feel

Typeface:    Baskervald ADF
Fonts:       6: R/RI/B/BI/V/VO
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.018
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   GPL2+ with font exception
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Serif, designed as a Baskerville

Typeface:    Berenis ADF Pro
Fonts:       4: R/RI/B/BI
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.005
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   GPL2+ with font exception
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Serif, didone-style

Typeface:    Electrum ADF Exp
Fonts:       8: L/LO/R/RO/SB/SBO/B/BO
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.005
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   GPL2+ with font exception
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Square, monoline slab-serif; City-like

Typeface:    Gillius ADF
Fonts:       8: R/RI/B/BI in Cond,Norm
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.009
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   GPL2+ with font exception
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Sans-serif, heavily based on Gill Sans

Typeface:    Gillius ADF No2
Fonts:       8: R/RI/B/BI in Cond,Norm
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.009
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   GPL2+ with font exception
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Sans-serif, heavily based on Gill Sans

Typeface:    Ikarius ADF
Fonts:       4: R/RI/B/BI
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.006
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   GPL2+ with font exception
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Vestigial serif, inspired by Hypatia Sans

Typeface:    Ikarius ADF No2
Fonts:       4: R/RI/B/BI
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.006
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   GPL2+ with font exception
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Vestigial serif, var. on Ikarius ADF

Typeface:    Irianis ADF
Fonts:       4(TTC),8(OTF): R/RI/B/BI with separate OSF/SC fonts in OTF
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.006
Format:      TTC,OTF
Licensing:   GPL2+ with font exception
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: A Caslon-like serif

Typeface:    Irianis ADF Math
Fonts:       1: R
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.006
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   GPL2+ with font exception
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Irialis ADF with math charset

Typeface:    Keypad ADF, Keypad ADF No2
Fonts:       2
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.001
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   GPL2+ with font exception
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Pi fonts with keycaps, white and black

Typeface:    Libris ADF
Fonts:       4: R/RI/B/BI
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.007
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   GPL2+ with font exception
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Calligraphic sans-serif, resembles Lydian a lot

Typeface:    Mekanus ADF
Fonts:       4: R/RI/B/BI
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.005
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   GPL2+ with font exception
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Slab serif with a typewriter feel

Typeface:    Mekanus ADF Titling
Fonts:       4: R/RI/B/BI
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.005
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   GPL2+ with font exception
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Slab serif with a typewriter feel

Typeface:    MintSpirit ADF
Fonts:       4: R/RI/B/BI
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.004
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   OFL 1.1
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Sans-serif, blends Ubuntu with Gill Sans

Typeface:    MintSpirit ADF No2
Fonts:       4: R/RI/B/BI
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.004
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   OFL 1.1
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Sans-serif, blends Ubuntu with Gill Sans

Typeface:    Mintysis ADF
Fonts:       6: R/RI/M/MI/B/BI
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.002
Format:      TTF
Licensing:   OFL 1.1
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: TrueType version of MintSpirit

Typeface:    Neogothis ADF
Fonts:       12: L/LI/R/RI/M/MI/SB/SBI/B/BI/V/VI
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.005
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   GPL2+ with font exception
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Monoline sans-serif, Bauhaus/Kabel feel

Typeface:    Oldania ADF
Fonts:       4: R/RI/B/BI
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.006
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   GPL2+ with font exception
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Medieval, scribe-like

Typeface:    Ornements ADF
Fonts:       2: One for each format
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.001
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   GPL2+ with font exception
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Pi font with clefs, hederae and other ornaments

Typeface:    Romande ADF
Fonts:       7: R/RI/SB/SBI, with Script in I and OSF/SC in R/SB
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.010
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   GPL2+ with font exception
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Serif with elements of Tiffany and Caslon

Typeface:    Romande ADF No2
Fonts:       4: R/RI/SB/SBI
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.010
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   GPL2+ with font exception
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Serif with elements of Tiffany and Caslon

Typeface:    Solothurn ADF
Fonts:       6: R/RO/M/MO/B/BO
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.004
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   GPL2+ with font exception
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Monoline sans-serif novelty face

Typeface:    Switzera ADF
Fonts:       24: L/LI/R/RI/M/MI/SB/SBI/B/BI/XB/XBI, Cond(L/LI/R/RI/SB/SBI/B/BI), Exp(R/RI/B/BI)
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.005
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   Vera
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Variations on Bitstream Vera Sans: Cond,Norm,Exp

Typeface:    Symbol ADF
Fonts:       4: Arrows/Bullets in either format
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.001
Format:      TTF,OTF
Licensing:   GPL2+ with font exception
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Pi face of arrows and bullets

Typeface:    Tribun ADF
Fonts:       12: R/RI/B/BI/XB/XBI, Cond(R/RI/B/BI), Exp(R/RI)
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.017
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   GPL2+ with font exception
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Serif, very similar to Times New Roman

Typeface:    Universalis ADF
Fonts:       8: R/RI/B/BI in Cond,Norm
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.009
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   GPL2+ with font exception
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Geometric sans-serif, inspired by Futura

Typeface:    Venturis ADF
Fonts:       18: R/RI/B/BI for all, plus H/HI for Norm
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.005
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   Utopia
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Variations on Adobe Utopia: Norm,Cond,Style,Cond Style

Typeface:    Venturis ADF No2
Fonts:       12: R/RI/B/BI for all
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.005
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   Utopia
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Variations on Adobe Utopia: Cond, Norm, Medium weight

Typeface:    Venturis ADF Old
Fonts:       4: R/RI/B/BI
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.005
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   Utopia
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Variations on Adobe Utopia: Garalde cues

Typeface:    Venturis ADF Sans
Fonts:       18: R/RI/B/BI for all, plus H/HI for Norm
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.005
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   Utopia
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Vestigial serif variations on Adobe Utopia: Cond,Norm,Exp and Light weight

Typeface:    Venturis ADF Sans No2
Fonts:       12: R/RI/B/BI for each width
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.005
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   Utopia
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Vestigial serif variations on Adobe Utopia: Cond,Norm,Exp

Typeface:    Venturis ADF Titling
Fonts:       5
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.005
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   Utopia
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Variations on Adobe Utopia: Cap/smallcap titling fonts

Typeface:    Verana
Fonts:       4: R/RI/B/BI
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.002
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   Vera
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Bitstream Vera variant

Typeface:    Verana Sans
Fonts:       8: R/RO/M/MO/SB/SBO/B/BO
Foundry:     Arkandis Digital Foundry (ADF)
Home:        http://arkandis.tuxfamily.org/
Version:     1.002
Format:      OTF
Licensing:   Vera
Designer:    Hirwen Harendal
Description: Bitstream Vera Sans variant

12.2K of Level Zero descriptions... and that's only ADF! And I still suspect there are a few missing.

Mark Simonson · November 10, 2012

One little thing: UFO (Unified Font Object) does happen to be RoboFont's native format, but it predates RoboFont by almost a decade and is not exclusive to RoboFont. It was created as a non-proprietary format for exchanging and archiving font data.

Chris Dean · November 10, 2012

@Té: Now that’s a post!

hrant · November 10, 2012

Regular and Book cannot be combined.

hhp

Chris Dean · November 10, 2012

Agreed.

Té Rowan · November 10, 2012

Hmm... First time I have ever seen anyone differentiate between Regular and Book. Any suggestion on what letter(s) to assign to Book?

@Mark – Right interesting tidbit.

hrant · November 10, 2012

I've heard people differentiate between Regular and Book for over a decade now (although not always consistently) and I'm a relative newbie.

Letter assignment for Book: maybe refer to the K in CMYK and go with the last letter, which is serendipitously* also a K.

* http://lmgtfy.com/?q=serendipitously

And don't forget Kate Moss's favorite weight, way lighter than Hairline: GCW, Goddam Cadaverous Waif.
https://typography.guru/forums/topic/24722-forwarding

hhp

Mark Simonson · November 10, 2012

Right interesting tidbit.

UFO is also supported by FontLab, Glyphs, FontForge and other font editing tools.

Letter assignment for Book: maybe refer to the K in CMYK and go with the last letter, which is serendipitously* also a K.

In Té's list, K already is assigned to Black. Maybe BK?

Renaissance Man · November 10, 2012

I know this is the wrong place to post this, but I've been trying for 3 days to start a new thread in General Discussions, and I keep getting this:

Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.
Please contact the server administrator, [email protected] and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.
More information about this error may be available in the server error log.
Apache Server at typophile.com Port 80

I did contact the server administrator. Nada.

Can anyone help me?

Té Rowan · November 11, 2012

Maybe I could use U or V for their resemblance to a closed or open hard-cover book... but how many faces have both a Regular and a Book, anyway?

Karl Stange · November 11, 2012

"U" might refer to an Ultra weight. I would second Mark's suggestion and use "Bk" for Book and "Blk" for Black, or provide a key in context.

Té Rowan · November 11, 2012

Looks like I'll have to dip into l/c to lessen need for context. "Bk" oughta be usable, though a parser would need look-ahead to distinguish it from Bold. Forgot upstream I was using U for Ultra in the list. *mallets self*

Somehow, I rather doubt FF Meta will enter any serious freeware list within the next 150 years or so.

hrant · November 11, 2012

Hopefully you're right. But your system shouldn't only cover junk.

hhp

Karl Stange · November 11, 2012

FF Meta for a start:

https://www.fontfont.com/fonts/meta

[EDIT] I am not implying that Meta is in anyway subject to an open source or freeware license, just a great example of a large type family.

Chris Dean · November 11, 2012

Starling has both Roman and Book.

Té Rowan · November 11, 2012

Check your fly, @hrant! Your biases are showing!

dezcom · November 11, 2012

Good one, Té!!!

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