GENTIUM-FAQ
Gentium Release 1.03
========================

Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about the Gentium fonts:


General
========

How do you pronounce Gentium?

	The preferred pronunciation is with a soft G as in 'general', not a
	hard one as in 'gold': JEN-tee-oom.

What is GentiumAlt?

	It is a version of the font with redesigned diacritics (flatter
	ones) to make it more suitable for use with stacking diacritics, and
	for languages such as Vietnamese. The Greek glyphs also use the
	Porsonic (single-curve) design for the circumflex. Since Gentium
	does not currently include any 'smart' rendering routines, there is
	no easy way to access these alternate diacritic shapes from within
	the regular Gentium font. The encoding of the fonts are the same, so
	the same text can be viewed with either one. There is also no
	problem with having both font families installed at the same time.


Licensing
=========

How is this version of Gentium different from version 1.02?

	The only difference between version 1.02 and 1.03 is that Gentium is 
	now released under the SIL Open Font License 1.1. There has been no 
	change to metrics, glyphs or behavior.  
  
I want to use Gentium in my publication - can I?

	Gentium is released under the SIL Open Font License, which permits use
	for any publication, whether electronic or printed. For more answers
	to use questions see the OFL-FAQ. The license, alongside information
	specific to Gentium, is in the release package.

I would like to bundle Gentium with my application - can I?

	This is our most common question. The SIL Open Font License allows
	bundling with applications, even commercial ones, with some restrictions.
	See the OFL file.

Can I use the font on my web site?

	You can certainly create web pages that request that Gentium be used to
	display them (if that font is available on the user's system). According
	to the license, you are even allowed to place the font on your site for
	people to download it. We would strongly recommend, however, that you
	direct users to our site to download the font. This ensures that they
	are always using the most recent version with bug fixes, etc. To make
	this easier, we've simplified the URL for Gentium:
	http://scripts.sil.org/gentium

Is Gentium going to stay free?

	There is no intention to ever charge users for using Gentium. The
	current version is licensed under a free/open license and future
	versions will be similar.


Modification
============

I would like to modify Gentium to add a couple of characters I need. Can I?

	Yes - that is allowed as long as you abide by the conditions of the
	SIL Open Font License.

So will you add glyphs upon request?

	Gentium is no longer being updated. Gentium Plus has been significantly 
	updated and if further glyphs are requested, they could be added to
	Gentium Plus.

Can I send you work I've done to be incorporated into Gentium?

	We are willing to incorporate your work into Gentium Plus. See the
	Gentium Plus FONTLOG for information on becoming a contributor.


Technical
=========

Can you help me get Gentium working on my system?

	We cannot afford to offer individual technical support. The best
	resource is this website, where we hope to offer some limited help.
	However, we do want to hear of any problems you encounter, so that
	we can add them to the list of bugs to fix in later releases.

	Our contact address is <gentium AT sil DOT org>.  Please understand
	that we cannot guarantee a personal response.

I can't find all the extended Latin letters in the font. How do I type them?

	Gentium is Unicode-encoded, which means that the computer stores a
	special, unique code for each letter in your document. Since most
	keyboards do not have hundreds of keys, special software is needed
	in order to type the hundreds of special characters supported by the
	font. 
	
I can't find the 'o with right hook' in the font. Where is it?

	Combinations of base letters with diacritics are often called
	composite, or pre-composed glyphs. Gentium has hundreds of these
	(the ones that are included in Unicode). There are, however, many
	common combinations that are not represented by a single composite.
	It is possible to enter these into a document, but only as
	individual components. So 'o with right hook' would be entered as
	'o', then 'right hook'. Although this may not look very good in some
	cases, we're not able to anticipate every possible combination.
	Gentium Plus includes 'smart font' support for technologies such as 
	OpenType and SIL's Graphite. This improves diacritic positioning.
	
Some diacritics are not aligning well with base glyphs, and if I type more
than one diacritic, they run into each other. Why is that?

	Gentium currently has no 'smart font' code for automatic diacritic
	positioning. You may wish to use Gentium Plus which does include
	'smart font' support.

How do I type the Greek letters?

	You need a Unicode-compatible keyboarding system, which is not
	included in the distribution package. 
	
I'm having problems making PDFs -- why won't my document distill?

	Gentium is a large font, with lots of glyphs. As a result, some
	printers can balk at PDFs that have the complete font embedded. The
	easiest way to avoid this is to have Acrobat/Distiller subset the
	font. This is generally a good idea anyway (with any font) and can
	reduce the size of your files.


Future
======

Now that SIL International has taken over Gentium, who will be the next
designer?

	Victor Gaultney will remain as primary designer, but other designers
	from the SIL Non-Roman Script Initiative have joined the project team,
	including Annie Olsen and Iska Routamaa. Other members of the NRSI team
	will also add their expertise in technical matters.

Do you plan to include other typographic enhancements (small caps, old style
figures, etc.)?

	Gentium Plus now has support for small caps. From a design point of view,
	it would be great to have other enhancements, and we haven't ruled them
	out. But there are other needs of much higher priority (such as Bold).
	If you think you could contribute some of your time and effort to these
	enhancements, see the Gentium Plus FONTLOG file for information on
	becoming a contributor.

What about bold?

	Gentium Basic and Gentium Book Basic are now available in all four weights 
	(Regular, Italic, Bold and Bold-Italic). The 'Basic' fonts only cover
	basic Latin glyphs. We are now working on completing these weights for
	Gentium Plus. Be patient, though, as Gentium has lots of glyphs!
	
Sans-serif?

	There is a definite need for a sans-serif font that shares some of
	Gentium's strengths -- high readability, economy of space, etc. It
	would also be great if that font also harmonized well with Gentium.
	We don't currently have any plans for a companion face, although one
	of our other projects - Andika - may be useful. Andika is a sans-serif
	font designed specifically for use in literacy programs around the
	world. Andika Basic (Regular) is already available and a version of
	Andika with a more complete repertoire will be available in a few months.
	
Will you be extending Gentium to cover other scripts, and Hebrew in
particular?

	It is very unlikely that we would do this, as there are so many
	pressing needs in Latin, Greek and Cyrillic scripts. But you could
	contribute to the project.
	
When will Cyrillic be completed?

	Gentium Plus now has Cyrillic support.
	
I need a couple of ancient Greek glyphs, such as the digamma. When will
those be ready?

	These are now available in Gentium Plus.

Will there be a Type 1 version? What about OpenType?

	Gentium Plus has OpenType and Graphite support. We do not plan to 
	produce Type 1. Included in the developer package of Gentium Plus
	is a version in OT-CFF format, but it is provided as a source for
	glyph outlines, not as a user-installable font, and includes no
	smart font code.