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1.8 Raw fonts

As mentioned above, fontopia works with different font formats, incuding raw fonts. Raw fonts are tricky: there is no file signature and there is not a single file extension to identify these fonts (some have the extension .bin, but this is not universal).

When you open a font file in fontopia, the following process happens:

  1. Fontopia tries to open the file as a BDF, PCF, PSF or CP font first.
  2. When all of the above fails, fontopia tries to open the font as a raw font.
  3. Fontopia checks the file size and the file name to try and guess the glyph width and height.
  4. If the file name is something like ’myfont-8x12.bin’, fontopia takes this as a hint to the glyph size (8 pixels wide and 12 pixels high).
  5. If the file name is not helpful, fontopia opens the font using internal width and height defaults, which might or might not be correct.
  6. A red message is shown in the status bar at the bottom of the screen to alert the user to the fact that a raw font is assumed and the file should be closed immediately if this is not the case.