[csswg-drafts] [css-fonts] The Cursive = Chinese Kaiti equivalent (#4606)

c933103 has just created a new issue for https://github.com/w3c/csswg-drafts:

== [css-fonts] The Cursive = Chinese Kaiti equivalent ==
Currently, in https://www.w3.org/TR/css-fonts-4/#cursive-def , it suggested that the Chinese font Kaiti can be seen as a Cursive font. And as far as I understand, numerous browsers and software have already implemented similar equivalent and mapped Kaiti to be a Chinese cursive form and used "cursive" as the English family name for the Chinese font family "Kaiti".

However, the function and purpose of "Cursive" in Latin font and "Kaiti" in Chinese font are quite different from each other. One thing they have in common is that both of them are constructed using handwritten stroke which give a feeling of calligraphic style, as such they can be used in decoration, but that is where the commonality end. The cursive font for Latin character is a more informal font especially on the internet, resembling handwriting written with pen, and have a somewhat distinctive look from regular printed characters. However, the Kaiti font for Chinese character is a formal font (like it is one of the main font that would appears in government document or textbooks), resembling handwriting written with brush, and have a look that generally resemble regular printed character. See https://www.w3.org/TR/clreq/#kai for further description on Kaiti.

As such, given that the purpose of Latin "Cursive" is quite different from the Chinese "Kaiti", I don't think it is wise to promote such equivalency, which could lead to misunderstanding when designers select font families?

And, as a note, Chinese actually have its own cursive font style named as "Caoshu". But not much people use Caoshu font in computer in modern times as they could be rather difficult to read in untrained persons' eyes.

Please view or discuss this issue at https://github.com/w3c/csswg-drafts/issues/4606 using your GitHub account

Received on Monday, 16 December 2019 07:58:47 UTC