Dynamic Fonts

[Jeff Papier]

Hello ListFolk,

One of our library organizations wishes to donate a PC to be used only for
reading foreign-language publications online.  The idea is that it's a
pain to "manually" download all of the necessary font sets on all of the
public Internet PCs, so a single machine should be set aside as the
"universal font recipient."

What's bugging me here is that the use of dynamic fonts seems to be on the
upswing, and that the money earmarked for this donation could be better
spent on other things.

Does anyone have any idea whether such fonts will soon replace  those you
have to download yourself?  We have a truly multi-ethnic community here in
South Brunswick, and I've seen any number of patrons
reading, e.g.,  Chinese or Gujarat publications thanks to fonts that load
themselves as needed.

My interest is not in the wisdom of setting aside one PC versus 10, or the
administrative hassles involved in limiting equipment to certain uses.
It's the font technology I'm wondering about.  Comments upon its
miraculous properties, disadvantages, overall use, etc., will be much
appreciated.

Many Thanks As Usual,

Jeff Papier     mercury at voicenet.com
South Brunswick Public Library
Monmouth Jct., NJ 08852