[Okular-devel] [PATCH] Fix rendering of DVI documents

[Albert Astals Cid]

A Divendres, 2 d'octubre de 2009, Elvis Stansvik va escriure:
> 2009/10/2 Albert Astals Cid <aacid at kde.org>:
> > A Divendres, 2 d'octubre de 2009, Benoit Jacob va escriure:
> >> Hi List,
> >>
> >> I noticed that the rendering of DVI documents was broken exactly in
> >> the same way as what I observed with PDF documents, namely, it used
> >> auto-hinting which looks especially bad with TeX fonts.
> >>
> >> Attached is a 1-line patch that changes it. I need your permission to
> >>  commit.
> >>
> >> Screenshots:
> >> * original :
> >>  http://picasaweb.google.ca/lh/photo/fry54ANy23UesNpFhbWanA?feat=directl
> >>ink * fixed :
> >>  http://picasaweb.google.ca/lh/photo/OjQIZ7Of6wP74k7fKUwXTw?feat=directl
> >>ink
> >>
> >> Here are some comments before one objects that disabling hinting is
> >> just a matter of taste, etc.
> >>
> >> First, it's obvious that the "original" screenshot linked above is
> >> horrible and that the "fixed" is the one that looks good.
> >>
> >> Second, it is a consensus on the Poppler/PDF side that one should use
> >> no hinting, and then, there's no reason why DVI should be any
> >> different. To summarize the situation on the PDF side:
> >> * poppler/cairo (hence Evince) 's code completely disables hinting
> >> * poppler/splash (hence Okular) 's code _meant_ to completely disable
> >> hinting (actually only auto-hinting, but in the context of DVI that's
> >> really the same because almost all DVI files use Type 1 fonts, and
> >> bytecode only exists in TrueType fonts). It was a clear bug in the
> >> code, where it was clear that the code didn't do what it intended,
> >> that resulted in hinted fonts being used.
> >>
> >> Third, the old KDVI used to not do any hinting, I'm completely sure of
> >> that because I've spent hundreds of hours looking at documents in it.
> >> I remember distinctly the (imho beautiful) slightly fuzzy look of the
> >> TeX fonts in it, that is characteristic of non-hinted text, although
> >> at that time I didn't know about hinting. That said, I used "svn
> >> annotate" to see who enabled hinting in the C++ code, and it turns out
> >> to be Stefan Kebekus himself in an old revision (240000-something). I
> >> am puzzled about that, but I still maintain that KDVI didn't use
> >> hinting on all the Linux systems that I tried. My best guess is that
> >> Stefan Kebekus _thought_ that he had enabled hinting but for some
> >> reason it wasn't used. I haven't investigated further as this is quite
> >> intricate, and of course I only have Okular's code at hand, I haven't
> >> looked at the actual KDVI code.
> >>
> >> OK to commit?
> >
> > No, actually what it is clear that *you* don't like hinting, and you have
> > a certain amount of followers, the problem is that typically people that
> > is happy with a setting is not much active defending it because they are
> > happy in their sofas.
> >
> > My suggestion is adding a configuration option that lets the user choose
> > between "No Hinting", "Hinting" and "Hinting as set in KDE settings". For
> > KDE 4.3.x we can add it, it set in "Hinting" and the only configuration
> > option will be thought non GUI as we can't add translatable texts. For
> > KDE 4.4.x we can default to "No Hinting" if others here (basically Pino,
> > Brad, Tokoe) agree.
> 
> I'm not one of those three, but I'll just chime in anyway and say that
> I agree with Benoit that, at least in the example he gave, it's very
> obvious that the non-hinted version looks much better. I'm not trying
> to troll here, but come on, in some places the hinted one is hardly
> readable, the characters are all jumpy; e.g. the 'T' in the very first
> word. I don't know if this is a bug in the hinting or just the way
> it's supposed to look.
> 
> Anyway, this doesn't make me a "follower" of Benoit; I'm just calling
> it like I see it ;)

That's one PDF in one hundred, and i've already felt too many times people 
hating me becuase I changed something I considered mintor but was critical for 
them, so for me it's a setting all the way.

Albert

> 
> Cheers,
> Elvis
> 
> > Comments?
> >
> > Albert
> >
> >> Benoit
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Okular-devel at kde.org
> > https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/okular-devel
> 
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