Hi Idris,
I've brought the subject up repeatedly on the list, and got not a lot of response. I have to think that 1) people are happy with the standard 7 font styles, 2) people have their own hand-rolled solution (like yourself, myself or Vit--see his Storm fonts support for some nice ideas), or 3) as Hans keeps bringing up, there are other ways around it. (Layered definitions, etc., which I'm coming around to think is a better discipline with markup.)
I'd say take a look at Vit's and my typescripts (I don't directly address semibold, because semibold markup in running text doesn't usually work): <http://typokvitek.com/stormcontext/> <http://homepage.mac.com/atl/tex/OpenType.zip>
The antykwa-torunska typescripts in the main distro also point at ways of accessing smallcaps and semibold via \Var[] variants from the main seven styles: <http://source.contextgarden.net/tex/context/base/type-syn.tex>
It's not that I'm trying to rain on your parade, it's just that I've lost a bit of enthusiasm for standardisation.
the problem is that we have to deal with old methods as well as new ones; there is also a speed issue involved. one of the handicaps is that we need to deal with math; on the other hand, in a mathless usage, a different font scheme is possible [we can even implement a new one]
Idris Samawi Hamid said this at Thu, 21 Apr 2005 12:36:55 -0600:
My suggestion: Either
a) the \*a(b)(c) etc mechanism needs modification to accomodate >2-char switches, or
b) an official 2-char switching convention for dealing with semibold and the standard five variants of small caps in ConTeXt is needed. Ideally users should not have to define switches for these standard variants anyway.
Here is an idea (further discussion needed):
a) Let's assume no change to the ConTeXt internals to accomodate >2-char switches.
the a/b/c/d are something from the past; since typefaces switch pretty quick, one can also switch the bodyfontsize (i can imagine something \sizea \sizeb ...)
thinking of it, it may be an option if i look into an alternative implementation with (for backwar dcompatibility)
\def\tfa{\sizea\tf}like definitions with \sizea being a bodyfont switch to a larger size (one problem is that in that cas ethe baseline distance would also be influences, so it may not be good idea after all)
b) There are twelve basic style variants in a professional modern serif font (math, greek, etc excluded): six for lower case and six for small caps.
On this basis, here is my suggestion for an official ConTeXt convention for professional fonts:
%% lowercase % medium \tf % semibold \sb % bold \bf % italic \it % semibold italic \st % bold italic \bi
%% small caps % medium \TF % semibold \SB % bold \BF % italic \IT % semibold italic \ST % bold italic \BI
the main problem here is this math family business so some choices need to be made (math does not mix well with text anyway)
i'm not that much in favour of capitalized named (clashes with user commands as well as some internals), so \scbf is more likely
also, whatever system we cook up ... there are so many bold variants nowadays in some fonts ... in practice one will not mix semi bold and bold in a running text, so again, this can be done by typefaces as well:
\definetypeface[normalface] [...] \definetypeface[bolderface] [...] \definetypeface[cappedface] [...]
and in places where this special bolder face is used, just switch to \bolderface
The small caps versions are identical to the lowercase versions, with the difference that the small caps versions use caps. This serves as a mnemonic device.
We also need some long-winded control sequences:
\definestyle [semiboldroman,semibold] [\sb][] \definestyle [semibolditalic] [\st][] \definestyle [smallcapssemibold,semiboldsmallcaps] [\SB][] \definestyle [smallcapsbold,boldsmallcaps] [\BF][] \definestyle [smallcapsitalic,italicsmallcaps] [\IT][] \definestyle [smallcapssemibolditalic,semibolditalicsmallcaps][\ST][] \definestyle [smallcapsbolditalic,bolditalicsmallcaps] [\BI][]
An identical or similar analysis may work for sans-serif, but I have to check...
before i do something with this i need to think it over; (and look at the storm definitions and adamns stuff more closely; keep in mind that with xetex and open type being around we may need even more features)
Hans
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