Inkscape is a great tool that has helped me create fonts. Thanks!

One feature it does lack is the ability to read files with embedded fonts. The SVG standard states that a SVG document can have fonts embedded in it. An SVG font, in XML, goes at the beginning of the document in the <defs> element. You could created the craziest font, embed it in SVG, and any SVG viewer should be able to read that font, regardless if the font exists independent of the document.

As many of you have probably experienced, getting a font to appear in a document can prove a frustrating experience. Your document looks perfect on your computer, but when you send it as an email you see boxes where letters should be. Getting a font to work in TeX is virtually impossible. So, the embedding of SVG fonts strikes me as an excellent feature. Another advantage to SVG fonts besides their ability to reside in the document is their simplicity. I can open any SVG font and edit it with a text editor. I can set the kerning values manually. Overall, SVG fonts could greatly solve the font headache. The only drawback of SVG fonts is their lack of hinting. Good fonts need hinting to appear nice in small print (or so I am told). However, I have read that the next specification of SVG fonts will include hinting.

Unfortunately, most viewers do not follow the standard and read embedded SVG fonts. I have read that Adobe's plugin does, but I have never been able to get this plugin to work. Inkscape also does not have this ability. It would be nice for Inscape to include this feature, so that users could see what a font looks like without having to convert it to another format (TTF) and install it on their systems. The feature would make Inscape more consistent with SVG standards. And it would perhaps push other viewers to also see embedded fonts.

Paul