Introducing fontkit.typogram.co: Typogram's Comprehensive Guide to Fontkit

Week 98 of Founding Typogram

Introducing fontkit.typogram.co

Hope you’re all doing swell!

The digital world is a lot like a massive, never-ending potluck. Everyone brings something to the table, and everyone gets to share. Here at Typogram, we’ve been scooping up generous help of some amazing open-source projects, like Fontkit.

Why We Chose Fontkit

Initially, Typogram favored opentype.js. This decision was influenced by my personal familiarity with the opentype.js, and the clear, user-friendly documentation it offered. In comparison, fontkit, which was primarily creatd for node.js, is not as well-documented, especially around how to use it in the browser context.

However, as Typogram expanded, we began to encounter certain nuances and edge cases that opentype.js struggled to address. Fontkit not only caters to conventional font rendering needs but delves deep into nuanced typography features. With it, turn on swash alternate character is possible:

Fontkit has the ability to support swash and stylistic set features and more

And font rendering is much more nuanced:

The ending “s” in font Pacifico should not have the tail that attempts to link to next letter since there is no next letter.

Such detailed typography functionalities made fontkit an indispensable for Typogram as we sought to navigate the intricacies of modern typesetting.

It’s a Two-Way Street

Using open-source isn’t just about taking. To keep the party going, you have to give back too. Imagine if everyone just took from the potluck and no one contributed. We’d run out of those delicious dumplings! 

Open-source thrives on continuous participation. With real-world products using it, open-source projects get pushed for bug fixes and new features fueled by real-life use cases. By actively using and contributing to these projects, we play our role in ensuring their ongoing vitality and relevance. One of the ways users of open source projects can contribute back is to provide documentation on how to use them!

Introducing fontkit.typogram.co

Screenshot of fontkit.typogram.co

Given our reliance on fontkit, we felt a need for a more comprehensive documentation site. This led to the birth of fontkit.typogram.co. Here’s what sets it apart:

1. Depth Over Breadth: While the official documentation of fontkit is limited to a README file on its git repo, we delved deeper. We meticulously explored each object, instantiated them in a live code environment, logged all their properties and methods (including private ones), and crafted a thorough API reference.

2. Searchable Documentation: Our documentation site ensures that users can easily search for and find the information they need. The intuitive search functionality streamlines the process, making information access quick and seamless.

3. AI-Enhanced Interactions: We’ve integrated AI into the doc site. Now, users can pose questions, and AI will give responses based on the content of the documentation!

Ask AI questions and get responses based on the documentation content

Hear from You

The essence of open-source lies in mutual growth, where both users and contributors evolve together. I hope this documentation site is helpful to some people here and out there, and I will keep updating them when I learn more about the library. Let me know what you think of this documentation site of fontkit if you use the library!

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See you next week! If you have friends interested in founding startups, please share my newsletter with them!