:hide-toc:

########
Topaz NG
########


About
=====

A vector interpretation of the venerable "Topaz" font, used on Amiga's workbench.

- `Project Page <https://codeberg.org/ideasman42/font-topaz-ng>`__.
- `Download <https://codeberg.org/ideasman42/font-topaz-ng/releases>`__.


Why?
----

These days I find many of the modern mono-spaced fonts, while functional,
tend towards looking generic and similar to each other - lacking character.
On the other hand, many font's *with* character tend to fall into the novelty category,
styled to look artistic but are impractical as a general purpose system-font.

For some reason I always liked the Amiga Workbench aesthetic,
it's crisp, awkward/colorful/brutalist design from the 90's appeals to me.

This font aims to balance the retro aesthetic with the requirements of mono-spaced fonts on modern systems.
Minimal changes have been made so the font can be used as a terminal font and for software development.


Approach
--------

The font was made by tracing "Topaz 11", then scaling the aspect as to match an NTSC output.
As the result is quite heavy, this is used for the "Bold" weight, with the outlines slightly contracted
for the "Regular" weight.

Glyphs for characters not found in the original (Greek & Cyrillic) have been created,
following the Latin style.


Examples
========

.. Rendered by ``i42_font_tool font_render`` from the files in ``examples/``
   (see ``make doc_samples``), at twice the display size for high-DPI displays, which the scale compensates for.
   The alignment test is too wide for the page at that size, so it's scaled to the page width instead.

Styles
   .. image:: ../build/samples/code.png
      :scale: 50
      :class: topaz-sample
      :alt: Topaz NG Code in the regular, bold, italic & bold italic styles, each with a pangram.

Alphabet
   .. image:: ../build/samples/alphabet.png
      :scale: 50
      :class: topaz-sample
      :alt: Glyphs which are easily confused, regular beside bold, then the ASCII letters & symbols.

Code (Python)
   .. image:: ../build/samples/code_python.png
      :scale: 50
      :class: topaz-sample
      :alt: Python source, syntax highlighted.

Code (Rust)
   .. image:: ../build/samples/code_rust.png
      :scale: 50
      :class: topaz-sample
      :alt: Rust source, syntax highlighted.

Box Drawing
   .. image:: ../build/samples/box.png
      :scale: 50
      :class: topaz-sample
      :alt: Tables in each line style, and a box within a box with a shadow.

Box Drawing Alignment Test
   .. image:: ../build/samples/box_alignment.png
      :width: 100%
      :class: topaz-sample
      :alt: The box drawing alignment test, junctions, dashes, diagonals & block ramps.

Greek Alphabet
   .. image:: ../build/samples/greek_alphabet.png
      :scale: 50
      :class: topaz-sample
      :alt: The Greek alphabet.

Greek Prose
   .. image:: ../build/samples/greek_prose.png
      :scale: 50
      :class: topaz-sample
      :alt: The opening of Ithaca by C. P. Cavafy.

Cyrillic Alphabet
   .. image:: ../build/samples/cyrillic_alphabet.png
      :scale: 50
      :class: topaz-sample
      :alt: The Cyrillic alphabet.

Cyrillic Prose
   .. image:: ../build/samples/cyrillic_prose.png
      :scale: 50
      :class: topaz-sample
      :alt: The opening of I Remember a Wondrous Moment by A. S. Pushkin.


License
=======

Released under the `SIL Open Font License 1.1 <https://openfontlicense.org>`__,
see `LICENSE <https://codeberg.org/ideasman42/font-topaz-ng/src/branch/main/LICENSE>`__.