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@justvanrossum@typo.social

Post #857676

2026-03-08 07:08 UTC

Font developers, I have a question about glyph names. In your view, what is the meaning of the term "production name"? The term is obviously flawed, hence this poll, but it is used commonly enough that surely there must be a consensus? Please boost.

Replies (5)

  • @Bahman@typo.social 2026-03-08 09:30

    @justvanrossum I chose the sensible option to me which is design process names. But the convention is the opposite nowadays. I myself would call the glyph names in the binary as “final names” if there was no existing convention.

    Open ##1067317

  • @justvanrossum naïve question: are proper glyph names still necessary in compiled fonts? I would love for my friendly names to be final names. (GNFUL seems like a wonderful solution if we do need names to be standard)

    Open ##1067318

  • @khaled@typo.social 2026-03-08 12:39

    @justvanrossum Only my development files (sources, binaries) have glyph names. Distributed fonts have no glyph names at all.

    Open ##1067320

  • @ryan@typo.social 2026-03-08 16:41

    @justvanrossum Voted for the second option because I know what’s meant, but it always gives me pause unless used in the phrase “final production names.” I wonder if the designspace convention of “design” and “user” would be helpful here.

    Open ##1067321

  • @Hilary@typo.social 2026-03-09 05:55

    @justvanrossum according to Gemini "Font glyph production names are standardized, technical identifiers used in exported font files (OTF/TTF) for machine readability, ensuring compatibility across applications and supporting features like PDF text searching. They differ from "nice names" (used during design) by adhering strictly to the Adobe Glyph List (AGL) Specification, often following uniXXXX (Unicode) or specific character"

    Open ##1067322