Fountain

Some updates from recent weeks, mostly relating to the progress on the default template.

⁃ I’ve being using python-fontbro on top of fonttools. Due to issues from my side, it’s removed and now I’m only using fonttools.
⁃ Cart can warn if single weight also exist in bundle
⁃ Font family opentype features, custom override for e.g. `ss01`.
⁃ Default font order grouped based on font slant
⁃ List of subfamily names improved. Subfamily now tries to make e.g. "Semibold italic" if font use legacy values.
⁃ `fontVersion()` and `designers()` aggregated across family fonts.

I’m really excited where this is headed and the progress right now. Next beta us a huge step.

Good news. Fountain is ready for a beta-release next week!

The Fountain font‑tester web component now includes a fit‑width attribute. When you change styles, it automatically recalculates the font size so it fits the preview width.

https://github.com/andreasnymark/font-tester

Four weeks of alternating sick kids (!) and some extra client work I took on during Jan and Feb, it’s been a challenge finding time to focus on Fountain. But finally there’s a default font-loader + font-tester ready. It’s been blocking progress on the basic template shipped with Fountain.

https://github.com/andreasnymark/font-loader
https://github.com/andreasnymark/font-tester

And yes, the kids are home today as well …

Work in progress on Fountain default template. Have been exploring both Stimulus and Alpine, but landed on Stimulus. Opens as a dialog on top of font family page.

@morningtype Appreciate the feedback. I’ve added the options once and each in the latest release, but turning it off when font size is manually adjusted makes sense.

Last week updates got a few breaking changes in relation to v.1.0.0-beta. Maybe not what I was hoping for, but I’m aiming for better consistency.

__Performance improvements__ for thumbnail generation, plus thumbnail previews for OTF/TTF files in the panel.
__Slugs now reside in language files__ to enable full multi‑language support.
__Refactored page‑model methods__ that adopt a more Kirby‑style syntax.
E.g. $font->getPreviewFont() is replaced by $font->preview()->font() instead.

Some updates from recent weeks. Font-tester has been taking time, but Fountain is still progressing nicely. Quick git log since v1.0.0-beta:

⁃ Fix for oblique fonts in Safari
⁃ Fix for cached price when mixing singles/bundles/variables
⁃ CSS/JS assets are now included in the plugin
⁃ Refactored Page Model methods, `getTotalFonts` is `totalFonts`, `getTotalBundles` is `totalBundles`
⁃ Removed variable fonts from static fonts collection
⁃ New `variables` collection for variable fonts
⁃ New `fontSlant` via angle or style flag, returns roman, oblique, italic or backslant
⁃ Lots of default template updates

Following last week’s beta release, the initial feedback has been positive. The release underscored the need to update documentation, and that sparked a push for improved searchability. A fuzzy-search is coming very soon, but if you’re really desperate for it now, you can use terminal: `curl "https://fountain.nymarktype.co/search?q=hosting" | jq`

As one final step before releasing the beta, I’m exploring hosting options. Uberspace remains a classic choice: uploading files to a web host. Railway supports deployment with a persistent Railway Volume, something I’ve been successfully experimenting with. I’m writing a guide that will let you replicate the process for other similar services, such as Render.

The beta is released to a selected few, with a handful of bugs already reported. Would love to have a ready‑made theme for Beta 2, but January is very busy and focus is on updating the documentation and fixing the reported issues. If you’re eager to try the beta, feel free to reach out.

No update last week doesn’t mean there hasn’t been any progress. It’s been a combination of sick kids, birthday preparations, and me catching the same illness. Whenever I think the project is “ready for beta”, something else always needs my attention. Currently I’m in cleanup mode, moving things into snippets for a better overview. That, and keeping the documentation updated is the only thing keeping me from sending out the beta.

While drafting an apology for missing last week’s status update, I discovered that I’ve now missed two weeks of progress rant.