What if dafont would create a new section at their site. In this section the first creator can upload "old" unreleased font or uncompleted work, in which she/he is not interested anymore. In return people can download these attempts, rework them and upload them to the same place as the original. Everything done with the original has to be released as freeware under the same thread.

Imagine what could be the result! Fonts that otherwise wouldn't see the light of day, could be reworked by others that see a potential and become a source for all! Even if someone would like to make a minor change for a singular task, this would be no problem!

The only thing is, the person who decides to release his first attempt there, has to accept any rework that is done. And anyone who downloads one of the versions that have been created, should be aware that this version could be far away from finalization and may need a checkup before usage.

Fonts as free source may be not a new idea, but where do we have these really free sources?

Something similar to that was done at alt.binaries.fonts before. IIRC it was Graham Meade who started it. He posted an incomplete font with a request for anyone to add a glyph and add his name in the font's copyright. And post the modified font to the NG. That was a long time ago and can't remember the details especially that I lost my copy of that font. I think the alphanumeric characters were completed together with the accents. Perhaps claudeserieux still remembers that.

Actually you don't need a new section here at Dafont for that because this forum will be fine for that purpose. You upload the font on one of those free file hosts and post the download link here. The thing is will the Dafont allow that. There are many budding font authors here who might want to show their talents.

If that happens, what's needed are guidelines... protocols so that there will be no confusion.

Make your font open source, open a github page, add your source files and ask for contributions here (or anywhere else).

ie :
https://github.com/theleagueof
https://github.com/klepas/open-baskerville
https://github.com/be5invis/Iosevka
https://github.com/adobe-fonts/source-sans-pro

I do not want a squabble.

Thanks for your reply ... well, I didn't think of ambitious projects like these in your examples, marty666. I think of a section like a trashcan, where everybody can pick the torso or maybe the basic body of a font up and rework it, develop something completely different or just making a few tweaks to give it another base ... of course this refers more to display type or experimental and conceptual work. The guidelines should be as simple as possible: “Everything you design on these bases has to be released as freeware at the same thread like the original. Anyone who uses the results does it at full own risk!“

Protocol would be just the timeline of the releases. Anyone who does a rework of a font simply needs to mention on which source in the timeline he based his version.

Anyway, I don't want a squabble either, Mr claudeserieux ... but sometimes I think, life would be much more interesting if we would collaborate without thinking of ownership. If I would throw something in this trashcan, I would be happy if something interesting would be developed out of it. This could be something really small and neat, I would love it! Just be sure you are ready to quit your exclusive ownership to the initial design, then maybe the idea of someone else will breathe it back to life ... and it will be free.

Why not a old typeface ?

Did anyone say "not"? Of corse, source could be any "old" typeface that you designed in the past and is copyrighted by you and no one else. You just should be shure that you don't want it to be your exclusive work anymore. Therefore I think too far developed fonts make less sence in this area ... some glyphs with an initial design idea would be more promising. But anything between could be the startingpoint as well!

Sorry claudeserieux, did you mean really old typefaces, that are public domain? I'm not a fan of modernised classics, because all the pros nowadays do design fonts that are more or less replicas of classic typefaces. They bore me like all these script revivals ... and maybe this is too ambitious in another way, because these old typefaces have a history of their own.

Example

Nothing is going to happen to this if profit or financial gain becomes the motivation for this project. I'd rather do it on my own if that is the case. Can't people do something just for the sake of doing it... doing it for the joy and fun you get out of doing it. That's what was nice when something like this was done at ABF before. No one thought about profiting from it or getting something out of it. You just contributed a little of your time, effort and talent to contribute to something just for the fun of it. Then release the font as public domain without any restriction or limitation for its use.

Nice font @claudeserieux. The top of the B was cropped and so is the bottom of @. If that is going to be done, I will do the period.

@claudeserieux / Now, I said it all before ... this is definitely not a starting point for a "trashcan" I have in mind. Can you tell me, who designed the alphabet? Is it really public domain? (There are tons of Typefaces whos creators have died over hundred years ago. Even many of the Grotesques have expired and lots of pros already scanned these typesamples for a revival. Tasty historism is profitable.)
@toto / "Release the font as public domain without any restriction or limitation for its use" – that's it. Anyone who puts a piece of work in the "trashcan" declares it as public domain. The only claim is, the result of a rework has to be postet in the "trashcan" as well and be downloadable.

WTC 145

I don't get it. That's how it is now, but it was not like this when the projects started.
That's the way open source things work.
Someone starts something, publishes it, and other people can participate to improve/finish it


Why ? Too clean ?

I'm not sure to fully understand what you want to achieve.
When you're talking about "too ambitious" and "trashcan", it seems to me you want to start a crappy open source font and son't spend too much time on it.

Why ask many people to contribute if the desired product is a shitty unambitious font ?

On this page you'll find some infos about how to fork a git repository (scroll down)
http://klepas.org/openbaskerville/

@claudeserieux / "WTC 145" ... okay, an abbreviation and a number. You would like to communicate?

@marty666 / "Why ask many people to contribute if the desired product is a shitty unambitious font ?" ... I wouldn't ask people for anything. The thing is, anyone can throw something into the trashcan and anyone can make something with it. In this case it would be a FONT. It doesn't have to be ambitious but it could be, of course! It simply depends on the amount of time and the kind of input someone is willing to give. (Have in mind, that everything you and others are investing could be for your own and everybody else's benefit.) I would be curious what will be the case depending on the work that is thrown into the trashcan. Sorry, I like the word "trashcan" in this context, because I really like to think of it like a designer who creates a usable product by doing upcycling. This is only metaphoric, but why not think like this when reworking digital products? Getting creative without having to produce something high end is very refreshing. We could learn so much from each other!

But as I wrote in the header, this is "just an idea" and I feel like I botherd some people who don't want to be disturbed. However, thanks for your input and response! After all I got more response here than I thought I would get! Maybe somewhere else this idea will become reality and people with the same imagination will try something like this ...

GitHub is the place for this kind of project, really.
That's where most open source projects are living their lives.
This was made for collaborative work (on software, fonts,..), version control, task management, and many more... exactly what your idea would require.

You didn't bother people who don't want to be disturbed, but your original idea is quite vague.

- If you got some specific idea about creating a font, that's fine, start creating your font from scratch, post the sources on GitHub, and of course some people would participate and improve it.
- If you mean it as a game like an exquisite corpse (one person / one char), why not.
- If you don't have anything specific in mind, and just want some storage for people to dump a few characters, i don't really know how you could attract anyone.

@methom WTomCarnase

@claudeserieux / meanwhile I found an ebook with this information. thanks claudeserieux.

TriangleEtCercle vient de alt.binaries.fonts. J'ai commercer et quelqu'un a fini la fonte.

https://www.dafont.com/triangleetcircle-shadow.font

Aha, this is the result of a collaborative design? I took a look at the font information but couldn't find the list of people that have contributed to the font. What a pity! But this is kind of perfect ... a bit too decorative in my opinion, but it's well done. (Couldn't translate your french properly, so I'm not sure if I got it completely.)