Add Cyrillic support

[Twilightssuperb]

Is it possible to create and implement cyrillic languages support?

[erikdkennedy]

I'm open to it. There are many improvements I need to make to the Latin set first (first and foremost, italics), so it won't be soon. But I'll leave this open for now, and others interested can upvote/comment.

[drawcard]

I'm interested in helping out with this. I've made a start at https://github.com/drawcard/figtree/tree/cyrillic

[drawcard]

I've completed the uppercase and lowercase character set for Cyrillic (Basic set), you can check out my branch to take a closer look.

I'm not a native Cyrillic writer, so it should be looked over by someone who is more familiar with Cyrillic. However I did study quite a few Cyrillic fonts while working on it, so hopefully it hits the mark.

Things to do before PR:

• Finish kerning pairs (will do some small updates to my branch as this happens)
• Check that the weight / colour is consistent with latin
• Final pass to check for technical issues with linework

Future ideas:

• Support for Ukranian, Belarusian, Bulgarian characters
• Italic versions

[erikdkennedy]

Looks like a fantastic start! Let me try and get some native readers to look it over. Thanks @drawcard ! 🙂

[erikdkennedy]

@drawcard I'd like to include Ukrainian with the initial PR.

Ґ ґ Є є І і Ї ї ₴

What else do we need for that?

[drawcard]

Thanks Erik!

For Ukrainian, I can complete the character set in Glyphs and update the branch. Shouldn't be too much effort to do.

I also posted in TypeDrawers to get some feedback, the comments have been helpful and I'll be working in those suggestions.

Will submit my PR soon!

[Twilightssuperb]

@drawcard, I add some line up to your mockup. It better shows that some letters don't have the same alignment (to bottom or top) and should be a bit smaller. Seems they are Э, Ю and small «е», «ё», «э», «ю». But I'm not sure of my viewpoint. Just glanced some details that could be matter.

Your mockup is fine.

My orange line is 2 px.

[drawcard]

Thanks for this @Twilightssuperb - I'm not entirely sure if I understand the issue, as the rounded letter shapes have overshoots on them, for optical correction, so their extremes wouldn't line up with the other x-heights:

Does that make sense, or does the issue lie somewhere else?

[Twilightssuperb]

Yep, I suggested it. It's not a bug or mistake, it's a typographic feature. Your drafts looks fine, don't bother. 🙂

I'm not a pro or designer to be nerdy or too strict, I'm just a kind of geek.

[drawcard]

Oh, I see now - thanks for pointing this out anyway!

[lazarljubenovic]

Serbian always gets left out 😭 ЉЊШЂЖЧЋ 🤟🏻

Here's my feedback for the current state:

• The lowercase л looks weird, especially in the bold variant. Visually it doesn't feel like the left part is reaching the baseline. The curve should either be snappier (e.g. Monserrat), or the whole left stroke should have a slight slope from the start (e.g. Open Sans).
• Дs look enormous. The baseline should be at the upper (not lower) edge of the lower horizontal line. (More obvious in the bold version).
• We write б slightly different in Serbia (see this comparison), so take this with a grain of salt, but I feel like the suggested б is too "wavy" at the top for this font.
• Ж seems slightly too condensed to the middle. I'd try extending the middle horizontal line and thus slightly reducing the slope of the diagonal strokes.
• З looks too thin compared to everything else, but I have no concrete suggestion on what to do.

[comerc]

@drawcard I can't install Cyrillic font on Mac. Please help me.

[comerc]

keycaps with this font :)

[thejupitergroup]

@drawcard I tried to download the fonts from your branch but they don't have the Cyrillic characters. Am I looking in the wrong place?