Hi all,

I've been trying to figure out a good process for making color fonts on Linux, with only open source tools.

As I've always liked 'secret' alphabets, I chose the flag semaphore and International maritime signal flags alphabets for playing with this.

Specifically, I made this font (see attachment):

Color font Nautic Alphabets Color with 2 nautic alphabets:
1. Flag semaphore (A-Z, Space, #, !, -)
2. International maritime signal flags (a-z, 0-9, _)
Non-color outline fallback for 2. is based upon Mrs Beasley font by Frank Baranowski (SIL OFL, https://fontlibrary.org/en/font/mrs-beasley).

The font works for me on Linux. However, I'm not 100% certain that it is a correctly built font, and I would like to know whether it works on Windows and macOS, too, or whether they'd refuse using the font as it is intended. If you'd like to help testing, feel free to install it and to leave feedback about whether it works for you on [operating system] or not. The license is SIL OFL, so you can use it for any purpose (if it works).

I'm planning to also write a tutorial about how to make something like this.

(this is not an SVG font, so you can install it properly and use it in the writing application of your choice - even in Inkscape.)

Works for me.

@dwhall Thanks for testing!

(btw. it doesn't work in LibreOffice for me, nor in Chrome - both show the outline fallback - , but in Inkscape and Firefox)

Did not work with MS-Edge or MS-Paint (Win11)

Worked with Thunderbird email, Firefox, GIMP2.10

Same results as dwall for me Windows11 / inkscape 1.3.1

"Doesn't" work with libreoffice or scribus.

Runs here in LibreOffice-Writer:

Scribus just renders just black+white glyphs.

Nice, @Polygon - same for me in Scribus, btw.

Thank you, @David248, and @dwhall for the refined testing!

So we have it confirmed to be accepted somewhat - depending upon the program - in all operating systems. At least all of them show the fallback outline, and color shows in at least one program on each OS.

For comparison:

There is a color font created by Adobe, EmojiOne. So that font should be conforming to the standard! Are you all getting the same results for the EmojiOne font?

https://github.com/adobe-fonts/emojione-color

font file download link:

https://github.com/adobe-fonts/emojione-color/raw/master/EmojiOneColor.otf

My own results (Linux):

• Inkscape: uses Bungee Color instead...
• Chrome: doesn't find font used in Inkscape SVG
• Scribus: shows Tofu, with Bungee Color bw in the preview
• Firefox: doesn't find font used in Inkscape SVG
• LibreOffice: uses Bungee color outline fallback

So this font is actually worse...

Hi again Maren,

Also works for inkscape for me.

I was wondering if the flags could undergo Text > Put on path. The result wasn't satisfying (I think it would be interesting without the rope). I tried to convert them to path, and then... did you met that behavior with object to path ?

I tried the EmojiOne font : doesn't work on inkscape, scribus, gimp or libreoffice.

Anyway, congratulations for this really good idea. If you don't find a good solution, maybe it would be interesting as a set of symbols ?  The telegraph set is awesome.

@David248 Yes, I know. Converting to a path converts to the outline fallback... So you can't use an LPE to stretch them, unfortunately. At least not starting from text.

Symbols? Sure, should be possible. Good idea, actually, I could ask for them to be incorporated into the open symbols repository...

https://github.com/PanderMusubi/inkscape-open-symbols/

I've also gotten some more information, from Tav, which allowed me to find a project that can add additional color formats to an existing font.

I've tried it, and this version here (see attachment) should also work in Chrome (it does for me). It doesn't work in Scribus and LibreOffice, though, but at least it is no longer Tofu or the wrong font there for me, but the outline fallback, so that is progress, too ;-)

You can follow the symbol files progress here: https://github.com/PanderMusubi/inkscape-open-symbols/issues/149

Symbol files available now:  https://inkscape.org/~Moini/galleries/symbols/

Beware of this Inkscape bug: https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inbox/-/issues/9887