Oh, sorry for my poor wording.
What exactly do you mean with a 'more general framework'?
If my memory is correct, HarfBuzz was started as the one of the infrastructure
for the Pango.
When it was started, there were other non-HarfBuzz OpenType drivers, like Qt,
like ICU, etc. Maybe there were more.
But now, the major players like Qt and ICU had changed to HarfBuzz. So I feel
HarfBuzz had grown as more general framework, in comparison with its beginning.
But anyway, your pointing out "HarfBuzz is a text shaping library, not a text layout
library" is important for the people looking for "text layout framework showing vertical
glyphs in vertical writing mode". Maybe a simple mention on HarfBuzz is a misleading info,
like, giving a flour to a person looking for a bread. I withdraw my proposal to replace the mention
on Pango by the mention on HarfBuzz. More elaboration is needed.
Regards,
mpsuzuki
On 2021/05/19 13:58, Werner LEMBERG wrote:
As a quick fix, I want to propose the additional item to FAQ. [...]
Thanks, I've added this (with modifications) to the FAQ. I also took
the opportunity to update the layout of the FAQ to be similar to the
rest of the FreeType 2 documentation.
BTW, I wonder whether current last answer referring Pango should be
improved by referring HarfBuzz. Yes, Pango is still essential part
of GTK+, but HarfBuzz is becoming more general framework broader
than GTK+. How do you feel?
What exactly do you mean with a 'more general framework'? HarfBuzz is
a text shaping library; it is not meant to actually do text layout. I
think the following library stack is still valid:
FreeType → HarfBuzz → Pango → Cairo
Of course, there are alternatives like
FreeType → HarfBuzz → Qt
Please make further suggestions how to improve the FAQ!
I would consider the additional text to add the vertical metrics
discussion in later.
Thanks in advance!
Werner
