Introduction

Most computer users do not know what OpenType is - and even publishers and designers, who are the only professionals who should really care, are often blissfully ignorant about the benefits of this new font format. Nevertheless OpenType has a lot going for it, and now that operating system support is not really an issue any more, OpenType could be slowly getting ready for action.

The problems - and the technology

For publishers, font-related problems have been the most annoying aspects of trying to work in mixed environments: the majority of currently used font files are platform specific, and moving a page-layout file from Macintosh to Windows and back has always been a challenging experience. Sure, things have become somewhat simpler with recent operating system releases: Windows 2000 and XP support OpenType; Mac OS X is compatible with a great variety of font-formats, including Windows TrueType fonts and OpenType, but the situation in the market is nevertheless complicated specifically for publishers with cross-platform workflows.

OpenType was invented several years ago by Adobe and Microsoft, in an attempt to provide a platform independent, Unicode-compliant font-format, which could in theory not only work on any computer, but also support non-latin scripts and extended character sets, and while it is not the only existing format to provide these functionalities, it is certainly today the most likely candidate to become a next-generation standard in the field.

The market potential

Practically speaking, there are three different target audiences for OpenType:

Publishers who are trying to get better cross-platform integration for their workflows should look at OpenType very closely (and many technology managers in larger publishing houses have already started to do this).

Designers who are looking to improve typographic quality of their work will find in OpenType a way to access more refined typographic features such as extended ligatures, true fractions, old-style numerals and contextual variations for some glyphs (such as a specially drawn characters for word endings.)

Finally, support for non-latin scripts is much simpler with a Unicode compliant 16-bit font system such as OpenType - Mac OS X offers some interesting examples in this field with support for Chinese, Japanese and other non-latin scripts.

Building momentum

The question is of course, is there true potential in this market? From a user perspective, momentum is building up little by little.

Pfeiffer Consulting’s recent research projects in the publishing and creative markets certainly show that awareness of the font format is growing, especially with IT managers in larger publishing houses. But does that mean that the market is ready? Is there sufficient perceived benefit with OpenType fonts that users are willing to re-invest in fonts?

Our research suggests that the market is indeed slowly opening up - provided type foundries and software houses embrace the new potential. Contrary to popular belief there is indeed a lot to be invented here, but only if the market can sense that the industry is backing the new format wholeheartedly format will they start moving in larger numbers. Adobe has made the first step by porting its entire type-library to OpenType. But this is only the beginning.

Supporting OpenType

What is needed now is extended support for the new format, both from the operating system, and as far as application software is concerned. Adobe InDesign 2.0 shows some of the typographic refinements that are possible with OpenType, and they go well beyond relatively hermetic letterforms only known to designers with formal training.

Apple has been showing some OpenType support with Mac OS X. (At his Seybold keynote, Phil Schiller, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, made an interesting demo of context variations using the OpenType Zapfino font which comes as part of Mac OS X v.10.2.) Given its strong presence in creative markets, Apple could contribute a lot to making the new font-format more popular. There was a time when basic ligatures, pretty essential to serious publishers, were only available on the Macintosh platform. Now Apple has the opportunity to make extended typography such as properly set fractions an integral part of the Mac OS X environment, and it could even push creative support for fonts much further.

How will the market evolve?

Currently, the market is in a chicken-and-egg situation: the font and software vendors seem to be waiting for more demand - and users are waiting for more fonts and increased creative options. Adobe certainly has shown the way. It remains to be seen how fast the rest of the market will follow..

October 1, 2002

©2002 Pfeiffer Consulting