Move away from using hinted fonts by default

6 files changed, 89 insertions, 47 deletions

diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
index f1917bd5e..591ca02e4 100644
--- a/.gitattributes
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 # Use CRLF for line endings in the Windows install "readme" file
 misc/doc/install-win.txt text eol=crlf
+misc/doc/hinted[[:space:]]vs[[:space:]]unhinted.txt text eol=crlf
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 7877ab116..8e4f9da27 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -158,8 +158,8 @@ You can also specify specific style + file format to `make` through `build/Inter
 E.g.
 
 - `make build/dist-unhinted/InterUI-MediumItalic.otf`
-- `make build/dist/InterUI-Bold.woff2`
-- `make build/dist/InterUI-Regular.ttf`
+- `make build/dist-unhinted/InterUI-Bold.woff2`
+- `make build/dist-hinted/InterUI-Regular.ttf`
 - `...`
 
 All resulting font files are written to the `build` directory with `InterUI-` as the filename prefix.
@@ -298,4 +298,4 @@ Run `./init.sh` to update the generated makefile.
 Use the fontinfo.py tool which outputs JSON describing all properties of
 one or more font files.
 See `misc/fontinfo.py -h` for details.
-Example use: `misc/fontinfo.py build/dist/InterUI-BoldItalic.ttf`
+Example use: `misc/fontinfo.py -pretty build/dist-unhinted/Inter-UI-BoldItalic.ttf`
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index b66cf0795..cbeb0fb41 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,11 +1,17 @@
 # Targets:
-#    all        Build all styles in all formats (default)
-#    all_ttf    Build all styles as TrueType
-#    STYLE      Build STYLE in all formats (e.g. MediumItalic)
-#    STYLE_ttf  Build STYLE as TrueType (e.g. MediumItalic_ttf)
-#    zip        Build all styles as TrueType and package into a zip archive
+#   all           Build all styles in all formats (default)
+#   all_ttf       Build all styles as TrueType
+#   all_otf       Build all styles as OpenType
+#   all_hinted    Build all styles as autohinted TrueType
+#   STYLE         Build STYLE in all formats (e.g. MediumItalic)
+#   STYLE_hinted  Build STYLE in TTF and web formats with autohints
+#   STYLE_ttf     Build STYLE as TrueType (e.g. MediumItalic_ttf)
+#   zip           Build all styles as TrueType and package into a zip archive
+#   install       Build all (web, ttf and otf) and install. Mac-only for now.
+#   dist          Create a new release distribution. Does everything.
 #
 all: all_web all_otf
+all_hinted: all_web_hinted
 
 VERSION := $(shell misc/version.py)
 
@@ -24,20 +30,13 @@ build/tmp/InterUIOTF/InterUI-%.otf: build/tmp/InterUITTF/InterUI-%.ttf $(res_fil
 	@true
 
 # build/tmp/ttf -> build (generated.make handles build/tmp/InterUITTF/InterUI-%.ttf)
-build/dist-unhinted/Inter-UI-%.ttf: build/tmp/InterUITTF/InterUI-%.ttf
+build/dist-unhinted/Inter-UI-%: build/tmp/InterUITTF/InterUI-% build/dist-unhinted
 	@mkdir -p build/dist-unhinted
 	cp -a "$<" "$@"
 
-# OTF
-build/dist-unhinted/Inter-UI-%.otf: build/tmp/InterUIOTF/InterUI-%.otf
-	@mkdir -p build/dist-unhinted
-	cp -a "$<" "$@"
-
-build/dist:
-	@mkdir -p build/dist
-
 # autohint
-build/dist/Inter-UI-%.ttf: build/dist-unhinted/Inter-UI-%.ttf build/dist
+build/dist-hinted/Inter-UI-%.ttf: build/dist-unhinted/Inter-UI-%.ttf
+	@mkdir -p build/dist-hinted
 	ttfautohint \
 	  --hinting-limit=256 \
 	  --hinting-range-min=8 \
@@ -64,20 +63,24 @@ ZIP_FILE_DIST := build/release/Inter-UI-${VERSION}.zip
 ZIP_FILE_DEV  := build/release/Inter-UI-${VERSION}-$(shell git rev-parse --short=10 HEAD).zip
 
 # zip intermediate
-build/.zip.zip: all
+build/.zip.zip: all_otf all_web all_web_hinted
 	@rm -rf build/.zip
 	@rm -f build/.zip.zip
 	@mkdir -p \
 		"build/.zip/Inter UI (web)" \
-		"build/.zip/Inter UI (hinted TTF)" \
+		"build/.zip/Inter UI (web hinted)" \
 		"build/.zip/Inter UI (TTF)" \
+		"build/.zip/Inter UI (TTF hinted)" \
 		"build/.zip/Inter UI (OTF)"
-	@cp -a build/dist/*.woff build/dist/*.woff2  "build/.zip/Inter UI (web)/"
-	@cp -a build/dist/*.ttf                      "build/.zip/Inter UI (hinted TTF)/"
-	@cp -a build/dist-unhinted/*.ttf             "build/.zip/Inter UI (TTF)/"
-	@cp -a build/dist-unhinted/*.otf             "build/.zip/Inter UI (OTF)/"
-	@cp -a misc/doc/install-*.txt                "build/.zip/"
-	@cp -a LICENSE.txt                           "build/.zip/"
+	@cp -a build/dist-unhinted/*.woff build/dist-unhinted/*.woff2 \
+	  "build/.zip/Inter UI (web)/"
+	@cp -a build/dist-hinted/*.woff build/dist-hinted/*.woff2 \
+		"build/.zip/Inter UI (web hinted)/"
+	@cp -a build/dist-unhinted/*.ttf   "build/.zip/Inter UI (TTF)/"
+	@cp -a build/dist-hinted/*.ttf     "build/.zip/Inter UI (TTF hinted)/"
+	@cp -a build/dist-unhinted/*.otf   "build/.zip/Inter UI (OTF)/"
+	@cp -a misc/doc/*.txt              "build/.zip/"
+	@cp -a LICENSE.txt                 "build/.zip/"
 	cd build/.zip && zip -v -X -r "../../build/.zip.zip" * >/dev/null && cd ../..
 	@rm -rf build/.zip
 
@@ -114,13 +117,19 @@ dist: pre_dist zip_dist glyphinfo copy_docs_fonts
 copy_docs_fonts:
 	rm -rf docs/font-files
 	mkdir docs/font-files
-	cp -a build/dist/*.woff build/dist/*.woff2 build/dist-unhinted/*.otf docs/font-files/
+	cp -a build/dist-unhinted/*.woff build/dist-unhinted/*.woff2 build/dist-unhinted/*.otf docs/font-files/
 
-install_ttf: all_ttf
+install_ttf: all_ttf_unhinted
 	@echo "Installing TTF files locally at ~/Library/Fonts/Inter UI"
 	rm -rf ~/'Library/Fonts/Inter UI'
 	mkdir -p ~/'Library/Fonts/Inter UI'
-	cp -va build/dist/*.ttf ~/'Library/Fonts/Inter UI'
+	cp -va build/dist-unhinted/*.ttf ~/'Library/Fonts/Inter UI'
+
+install_ttf_hinted: all_ttf
+	@echo "Installing autohinted TTF files locally at ~/Library/Fonts/Inter UI"
+	rm -rf ~/'Library/Fonts/Inter UI'
+	mkdir -p ~/'Library/Fonts/Inter UI'
+	cp -va build/dist-hinted/*.ttf ~/'Library/Fonts/Inter UI'
 
 install_otf: all_otf
 	@echo "Installing OTF files locally at ~/Library/Fonts/Inter UI"
@@ -128,7 +137,7 @@ install_otf: all_otf
 	mkdir -p ~/'Library/Fonts/Inter UI'
 	cp -va build/dist-unhinted/*.otf ~/'Library/Fonts/Inter UI'
 
-install: all install_otf
+install: all_web install_otf
 
 
 glyphinfo: docs/lab/glyphinfo.json docs/glyphs/metrics.json
@@ -151,6 +160,6 @@ _local/UnicodeData.txt:
 	  http://www.unicode.org/Public/UCD/latest/ucd/UnicodeData.txt
 
 clean:
-	rm -vrf build/tmp/* build/dist/Inter-UI-*.*
+	rm -vrf build/tmp/* build/dist-hinted build/dist-unhinted
 
-.PHONY: all web clean install install_otf install_ttf deploy zip zip_dist pre_dist dist glyphinfo copy_docs_fonts
+.PHONY: all web clean install install_otf install_ttf deploy zip zip_dist pre_dist dist glyphinfo copy_docs_fonts all_hinted
diff --git a/init.sh b/init.sh
index a4d4cb602..debea40bd 100755
--- a/init.sh
+++ b/init.sh
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ if [[ "${BUILD_DIR:0:2}" == "./" ]]; then
   BUILD_DIR=${BUILD_DIR:2}
 fi
 
-DIST_DIR=$BUILD_DIR/dist
+DIST_DIR=$BUILD_DIR/dist #-hinted|-unhinted
 BUILD_TMP_DIR=$BUILD_DIR/tmp
 VENV_DIR=$BUILD_DIR/venv
 
@@ -255,19 +255,19 @@ else
 
     # STYLE and STYLE_ttf targets
     for style in "${all_styles[@]}"; do
-      echo "${style}_ttf: $DIST_DIR/Inter-UI-${style}.ttf" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
+      echo "${style}_ttf_hinted: $DIST_DIR-hinted/Inter-UI-${style}.ttf" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
+      echo "${style}_ttf: $DIST_DIR-unhinted/Inter-UI-${style}.ttf" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
       echo "${style}_otf: $DIST_DIR-unhinted/Inter-UI-${style}.otf" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
-      echo "${style}_ttf_unhinted: $DIST_DIR-unhinted/Inter-UI-${style}.ttf" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
 
       echo -n "${style}: ${style}_otf" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
       for format in "${web_formats[@]}"; do
-        echo -n " $DIST_DIR/Inter-UI-${style}.${format}" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
+        echo -n " $DIST_DIR-unhinted/Inter-UI-${style}.${format}" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
       done
       echo "" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
 
-      echo -n "${style}_unhinted: ${style}_otf" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
+      echo -n "${style}_hinted: ${style}_ttf_hinted" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
       for format in "${web_formats[@]}"; do
-        echo -n " $DIST_DIR-unhinted/Inter-UI-${style}.${format}" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
+        echo -n " $DIST_DIR-hinted/Inter-UI-${style}.${format}" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
       done
       echo "" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
     done
@@ -286,9 +286,10 @@ else
     done
     echo "" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
 
-    echo -n "all_ttf_unhinted:" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
+    # all_ttf_hinted target
+    echo -n "all_ttf_hinted:" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
     for style in "${all_styles[@]}"; do
-      echo -n " ${style}_ttf_unhinted" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
+      echo -n " ${style}_ttf_hinted" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
     done
     echo "" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
 
@@ -299,16 +300,17 @@ else
     done
     echo "" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
 
-    echo -n "all_web_unhinted:" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
+    # all_web_hinted target
+    echo -n "all_web_hinted:" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
     for style in "${all_styles[@]}"; do
-      echo -n " ${style}_unhinted" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
+      echo -n " ${style}_hinted" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
     done
     echo "" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
     
 
-    echo -n ".PHONY: all_ttf all_ttf_unhinted all_web all_web_unhinted all_otf all_ufo" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
+    echo -n ".PHONY: all_otf all_ttf_hinted all_ttf all_web all_web_hinted all_ufo" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
     for style in "${all_styles[@]}"; do
-      echo -n " ${style} ${style}_ttf ${style}_ttf_unhinted ${style}_otf" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
+      echo -n " ${style} ${style}_ttf ${style}_ttf_hinted ${style}_otf" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
     done
     echo "" >> "$GEN_MAKE_FILE"
   fi
diff --git a/misc/doc/hinted vs unhinted.txt b/misc/doc/hinted vs unhinted.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..564e360cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/misc/doc/hinted vs unhinted.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+
+Inter UI font files comes in two versions:
+
+1. Without TrueType hints (the default)
+
+2. With TrueType hints (folder with "hinted" in their name)
+
+
+The TrueType hints are used by ClearType on Windows machines where ClearType
+is enabled. This usually changes the appearance of the fonts and can in some
+cases increase the legibility of text.
+
+However, the hints for Inter UI are automatically generated and are not always
+a good thing. Additionally, hints are little computer programs that takes up
+considerable disk space, meaning that font files with hints are larger than
+those without hints. This might be a consideration when using web fonts.
+
diff --git a/misc/doc/install-win.txt b/misc/doc/install-win.txt
index ea86be137..9bff45889 100644
--- a/misc/doc/install-win.txt
+++ b/misc/doc/install-win.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 
 Installing on Windows 10:
 
-1. Open the "Inter UI (hinted TTF)" folder
+1. Open the "Inter UI (OTF)" folder
 2. Select all font files
 3. Right-click the selected files and choose "Install"
 
@@ -9,11 +9,24 @@ Installing on Windows 10:
 Installing on Windows 10, manually:
 
 1. Double-click the downloaded zip file
-2. Copy the "Inter UI (hinted TTF)" folder
+2. Copy the "Inter UI (OTF)" folder
 3. Press Win-Q on your keyboard, then type "fonts" and hit ENTER
-4. Paste the "Inter UI (hinted TTF)" folder.
+4. Paste the "Inter UI (OTF)" folder.
 
 If you have a previous installation of Inter UI, you should make sure
 to remove those fonts files before installing new ones.
 
+
+ClearType-hinted fonts
+
+  Inter UI also comes with a version that has TrueType hints used by ClearType
+  on Windows. This changes the appearance of the fonts when rendered on a
+  system with ClearType enabled and can in some cases increase the legibility
+  of text. However, the hints for Inter UI are automatically generated and are
+  not always a good thing.
+
+  If you do prefer to use the version with hints, use the font files in the
+  folders with "hinted" in their name, like "Inter UI (TTF hinted)"
+
+
 See https://github.com/rsms/inter for more information