Make new Hebrew fonts available (or change Yehudit)

[TYA]

Dear Accordance,

 

I recognize that every person's computer may display differently, but I would like to suggest making alternative Hebrew fonts available, because Yehudit (the only one available in Accordance) isn't that clear compared to what I use in other programs.  Please see attached screenshot to demonstrate.  Thank you.

[R. Mansfield]

I’ve always thought of Yehudit as far superior to other Hebrew fonts. And I’m not saying that because I work for the company; I thought that all the way back to 1998 when I switched from Windows and BibleWorks to the Mac and Accordance.

 

I’d be interested in seeing your screenshot, which I don’t believe posted. I do remember in the early days of the Windows version that the quality of Yehudit would drop dramatically if I went below a particular point size, but I’ve not experienced that in a long time. 

[MattChristianOT]

I would agree the font is difficult to read sometimes, even at a bigger magnification!

[TYA]

Dear Rick,

 

Sorry for the delay in response.  I'm trying to upload the screenshot of Yehudit on my PC, and am unable to do so.  The "My Media" option seems to require that I upload it to the "community," and I don't know what that is.  (Sorry, I'm new on this forum).  It doesn't seem as simple as "upload a file."

 

At any rate, Yehudit looks beautiful on my computer if I make it really large (font size 27 or higher).  No complaints then, but the problem is that I usually read Hebrew at a 12-18 font size in Bible software.  At certain sizes, Yehudit actually makes a "sheva" vowel a solid vertical line, like a "metheg / silluq."

 

Furthermore, for me (and again, I fully understand that different computers display fonts differently), Yehudit looks somewhat crooked, as opposed to smooth--at least until I increase it to size 27 or above.  But I have no problem believing that it works better on other computers.  Just thought I'd suggest to add another font or two for Hebrew.

 

Thanks for everything.

[ukfraser]

To add a screenshot, Under more reply options (next to post which you have successfully found), you can choose file (your screenshot) and then attach this file, then reply.

Edited September 3, 2018 by ukfraser

[TYA]

Thank you, ukfraser for the advice on how to upload an image.

 

Here (attached) are some shots of Yehudit in various size fonts on my computer.  Just doesn't look smooth until font size 27 (the largest one).  Smaller font sizes, shown here, are somewhat "clunky," and the vowels / accents sometimes overlap.

 

Thanks

(supra)

[TYA]

Great day Accordance.  I'm still not pleased with this Yehudit font.  Please see attached.  Thank you for all you do.

[Alistair]

This probably doesn't help you but It seems to me this is more an issue to do with the limitations of either your hardware (screen resolution) or your  OS (how it draws the fonts on the screen).

 

I have a retina screen MacBook Pro and the Hebrew text is crystal clear.

 

I suspect the original Yehudit typeface came from a time when Accordance was Mac-only, and that Accordance would call on the Mac OS to render the type on screen. But I doubt that is the real issue. I think to some degree we should "blame" (or thank) the highly stylised rendering of the typeface itself, with thick and thin strokes, and the very nature of the pointing and other marks.

 

As others have pointed out, the Accordance Hebrew font is hard-coded into the text and cannot be changed.

This would a massive undertaking for the Oak Tree folk.

 

So my solution is "Get a Mac." Or hack/edit the Accordance/Yehudit typeface to make it more legible.

I suspect you may not find either of these to be a practical solution.

[TYA]

As others have pointed out, the Accordance Hebrew font is hard-coded into the text and cannot be changed.

 

Admittedly, I don't understand this, but I certainly can't argue with it.  I actually *do* like Yehudit once we get above font size 20, and it is only at size 20 that the sheva blurs like a metheg.  But on a screen with limited real estate, it just so happens that 20 is about the right size for me in some Workspaces.

 

If there are no other options than Yehudit, I will get along just fine.  I do like the ability to change the font when I import user-created Hebrew-letter texts (I like "SBL Hebrew").  So consider this a suggestion that more options are nicer than less.

Edited November 5, 2018 by TYA

[Λύχνις Δαν]

Hi TYA,

 

  I had a look at this finally and on Windows. I see that 20 point is peculiar. If you look at 1Sam 31:11 as an example for no other reason that that's what I had open at the time, you will see this :

 

שׁמואל א 13׃11 וַיִּשְׁמְע֣וּ אֵלָ֔יו יֹשְׁבֵ֖י יָבֵ֣ישׁ גִּלְעָ֑ד אֵ֛ת אֲשֶׁר־עָשׂ֥וּ פְלִשְׁתִּ֖ים לְשָׁאֽוּל׃

 

  Now, the dots in the shewas under וַיִּשְׁמְע֣וּ are nice and distinct at both 22 point and at 18 point but not at 20 point. I do not know why but there is something peculiar with the scaling I guess at 20 point.

 

  Do you see the same ?

 

Thx

D

[TYA]

Exactly.  Yehudit is actually a beautiful font once it is large enough, but at font size 20 the "sheva" looks like a bold "metheg," and the vowels and accents actually get crammed together.  (See attached screenshots).  Also, at smaller fonts below 20, the text sometimes looks uneven.

 

Again, it just so happens that size 20 fits proportionally with other texts (even other languages), and so it would really be nice if something could be done to fix Yehudit at size 20.  This makes no sense to me, especially because it actually appears smoother at both smaller and larger fonts.

 

(Note: it is still at 18, and though it is smoother at 16, it is then too small for my liking.  See attached).

 

Finally, (just coming back after further research on this issue), here is a workaround for those of you suffering from these same symptoms with Yehudit.  See screenshot titled "Workaround," which is the best option I've come up with, keeping in mind that I like to keep the text sizes relatively proportional to each other.

Edited November 6, 2018 by TYA

[Ronelh]

I can't explain exactly why, but I also find Yehudit hard to read.  I wondered if it was just that it was different from what I'm used to, but I see that others have the same complaint.  I need to have several windows open when I'm doing Bible translation work, so I need to economize space.  I have actually gone back to using the old Bibleworks program to read the Hebrew text, because their font is very easy to read even at smaller font sizes.  Getting a Mac is not an option for me.

 

Anyway, since different people have different preferences, it seems to me that it would be a good idea to have at least a few different font options, just to cater to different user preferences.  I doubt it would be possible to have one single font that really satisfies everyone.

 

(Edit): After writing this post, I noticed the "workaround" screenshot in the above users' post.  I increased the font size to 27 but the line spacing to 20% (it was at 60%).  It helps quite a lot.  Thanks for the tip, TYA! 

 

However, I would still like the option to choose different fonts. :-)

Edited January 3, 2019 by Ronelh

[Helen Brown]

Back in the days when Accordance was born (we'll be 25 years old this year) we used ASCII fonts and each font developer used a different mapping. That means that although most developers (outside Israel) placed Aleph on the A key, they placed less obvious letters, let alone vowels and cantillation marks, in whichever of the possible 256 positions they thought best. This is why you cannot switch between different ASCII fonts for non-Roman languages.

 

Unicode is quite different, of course. Every language has its own section so the characters are always unique and appear correctly as long as at least one font is installed that has that character set.

 

No doubt eventually we will convert the Greek and Hebrew and other texts to our Unicode font, but that will require massive rewriting of the underlying code. In the meantime we fully support import and export of Unicode, but we cannot simply allow the user to display the text in a different font.

 

I hope this explanation helps.

[TYA]

(we'll be 25 years old this year)

 

Congratulations.  Looking forward to this b-day   And yes, thank you Helen for the explanation regarding the fonts.

Edited January 3, 2019 by TYA

[TYA]

But I also just noticed tonight a problem with Yehudit in which the "holem" vowel merges with the dot above the letter sin at certain font sizes.  Please see attached, just in case anything can be done about this.

 

Thank you.