Chinese fonts lack styles, and some fonts are only Regular

[wlpha]

[Gabe]

Hi @wlpha,

Can you use this link to attach the fonts in question? https://www.dropbox.com/request/1qfrFOCWcf0UJdyoG79P

[wlpha]

@Gabe

simsun.ttc

[kenmcd]

The simsun.ttc font collection file contains two fonts:
- NSimSun-Regular
- SimSun-Regular

The simsunb.ttf file contains one font:
- SimSun-ExtB-Regular

Since I do not read Chinese I can only guess that is what your arrows point to above.
But it all looks correct to me.

[wlpha]

The windows system font frame api normally displays multiple font styles, but the windows fonts directory only has simsun-Regular, can the software be set to use the system font api instead of the software itself to read the fonts in the windows fonts directory 

[kenmcd]

The SimSun fonts are only available in one weight - Regular.
There are no other weights to display.
The system does not magically create additional weights.
It will only display the fonts that are actually installed.

I have never seen any other weights for the SimSun fonts.
Do you have SimSun fonts in more weights?

[wlpha]

But the font that comes with win10 is only simsun-regular font, but the system font dialog api does have multiple styles, why not add the system font dialog?

[kenmcd]

1 hour ago, wlpha said:

but the system font dialog api does have multiple styles, why not add the system font dialog?

Please provide a screenshot of this dialog.

[linkedc]

On 9/17/2021 at 8:24 AM, kenmcd said:

The SimSun fonts are only available in one weight - Regular.
There are no other weights to display.
The system does not magically create additional weights.
It will only display the fonts that are actually installed.I have never seen any other weights for the SimSun fonts.
Do you have SimSun fonts in more weights?
 

Yes, you are right.

Apologies for reviving this old thread, but since the issue described here matches exactly what I’m currently facing — and the previous response didn’t provide a clear explanation — So I’m adding a follow-up.  

-------

Background

SimSun (中易宋体) is the default Chinese font for document editing in Windows, as well as the most widely used font (by far) for government documents and everyday purposes. However, due to its early design, it only has a Regular weight with no dedicated Bold weight. To address this, software like Microsoft Word, WPS and LibreOffice etc. adapt by applying fake-bold effects — either through slight positional offsets or stroke thickening.  

 

Problem I met

Yet, the Affinity suite lacks (effects not satisfactory) such special handling for single-weight fonts, so it fails to properly edit or display documents containing these "artificially bolded" SimSun characters.

Detailed explainations:

For example, Latex uses these commands to show the bold as the following commands show.

\def\pmb#1{\setbox0=\hbox{#1}%
  \kern-.025em\copy0\kern-\wd0
  \kern.05em\copy0\kern-\wd0
  \kern-.025em\raise.0433em\box0 }

 

 

And, MS Word treat no-bold font with the following commands to show the bold:

1. Set rendering mode to 2

2. Stroke using 2/7 width of the glyph's outline path (2 Tr 0.2857 w) (I don't know if my translation is correct to understand...)

Regular：我能吞下玻璃而不伤身体。\par
Fake-Bold：{\pdfliteral{0.5 g 2 Tr 0.2857 w}我能吞下玻璃而不伤身体。
% Some software use 2 Tr 0.5 w
\pdfliteral{0 Tr}}\par

 

Besides, an article is HERE which shows how Typest handle these "fake-bold" fonts.

What I want

I hope the Affinity suite can correctly parse and render text with fake-bold features like other software

 

FontTest字体测试(New).pdf

Edited June 9 by linkedc

[kenmcd]

11 hours ago, linkedc said:

I hope the Affinity suite can correctly parse and render text with fake-bold features like other software

"Correctly" render horrible distorted fake bold. "Correctly" - that's funny.

Fake Bold is really bad.
Fake Italic is even worse.
Fake BoldItalic is an assault on the viewer's eyeballs.

The PDF library also has to support this bad idea.
LibreOffice users have been confused when no Bold appears in the PDF.
When the actual Regular font is embedded.

Hope this "feature" never happens here.

 

[linkedc]

In my opinion, actually no one wants to use that disgusting Fake-Bold font style, but due to practical constraints, it's still necessary to for everyone to use this s***. So, I still hope Affinity can try to be compatible (or improve the existing compatibility method) to make them easier to distinguish from regular text.

For example, below is my own configuration to address the bolding needs of the SimSun font. This is the corresponding table for font size and stroke size required for Fake-Bold.

Font Size→Stroke

5-19pt→0.3pt

20-36pt→0.4pt

37-42pt→0.5pt

43-54→0.7pt

55-64pt→0.9pt

65-80pt→1.4pt

120pt→1.8pt

 

SimSun&Stroke.afdesign

Edited June 10 by linkedc
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