Commons:Graphics village pump/April 2014

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More SVG font issues

Will MediaWiki's SVG font rendering ever be fixed? I wasn't aware it is so limited. This file -- that I've been nagged for years to convert -- doesn't render because it uses Microsoft's default Calibri font, which must be one of the most widely used in the world. No, I'm not going to redesign it with a different font; the SVG version will just be tagged for deletion. What a waste of time. --Glen Fergus (talk) 02:10, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Commons has a number of SVG font-rendering difficulties, but it really cannot be blamed for not having proprietary commercial fonts installed on the server, something which is not feasible for several reasons. The old standby is "convert text to paths", or you could ask for Google Carlito (which is supposedly a quasi-clone of Calibri) to be installed if the license terms are compatible... AnonMoos (talk) 02:32, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
You should install the Liberation fonts (no matter how much you hate that) and use them in your SVG so you always has the closest results between your computer and the Wikimedia render without resorting to "convert text to paths" which horribly increases the document size and makes it painfully difficult to localize to other languages. -- Sameboat - 同舟 (talk) 02:56, 7 April 2014 (UTC)
Converting text to paths is theoretically bad, but sometimes it's just about the only practical solution to certain difficulties. Look at the tortured upload history of this quite basic file: File:Simple inverse relationship chart.svg... -- AnonMoos (talk) 12:49, 7 April 2014 (UTC)
Good example, because there is no bad rendering of the font?!? (the different text position comes from SVG)
-- Perhelion (talk) 14:10, 7 April 2014 (UTC)
At various times in the past, the thumbnail-size renderings (180px or 220px) for the various textual SVGs that were the current file version at the moment have been either almost unreadable, or highly unaesthetic -- while the thumbnail-size renderings of the text-converted to path SVG (25k) were never problematic (something which has encouraged a number of uploaders to simply convert all text to paths to abruptly cut short all the fluctuating SVG font problems). It would be nice if all SVG font difficulties have finally been resolved, but it would be difficult to believe this without some further evidence... AnonMoos (talk) 03:18, 9 April 2014 (UTC)
Actually from my personal experience SVGs with text converted to paths looks reliably mediocre (). In contrast SVGs with real text normally look quite well – as long as they are done correctly. The problem is, that the author himself as well as the SVG editing software both have the potential to seriously mess up the SVG which will then result in actual bad rendering. Most of the time this can be shadowed by converting texts to paths, but most of the time it could be solved in the first place by optimizing/correcting the workflow. Bad rendering because of real libRSVG bugs is very rare these days – it's only the last element in the chain and therefore always blamed for everything (even if it's not the renderer's fault at all).
In my personal opinion text should never be converted to paths if not totally necessary (at it's almost never necessary). The slightly increased "compatibility" does by far not outweighs the downsides (e.g. impossibility to edit text / translate graphics). --Patrick87 (talk) 08:57, 9 April 2014 (UTC)
If one does decide to convert text to paths, it's a good idea to leave a copy of the original text in the image as an invisible object. LX (talk, contribs) 13:38, 9 April 2014 (UTC)
AnonMoos. If you don't like how text look when the SVG is downsized to ~200px wide, why don't you scale down the native dimension to of the canvas and adjust the text position and size accordingly in the first place? -- Sameboat - 同舟 (talk) 07:31, 10 April 2014 (UTC)

The source code of this SVG is invalid due to 37 errors.

Hi, File:Open book 01.svg is one of the most used globally (Nr. 2). I see 37 errors. Can someone fix this errors? :) Thanks --Steinsplitter (talk) 15:34, 22 April 2014 (UTC)

It's upload protected. ;) --Maxxl2 - talk 16:02, 22 April 2014 (UTC)
Protection removed. --Steinsplitter (talk) 16:27, 22 April 2014 (UTC)
I have a simplified 53k version of ready you. As icon this reduced path image will suffice. If you like it, just give me a ring. --Maxxl2 - talk 16:57, 22 April 2014 (UTC)
Thank you. I think we should keep the non simplified version because it is used 4705453 times. But feel free to upload the simplified version as a new file :) --Steinsplitter (talk) 17:11, 22 April 2014 (UTC)