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I can see in pango that we can query the maximum ascent (i.e. vertical distance from the horizontal baseline to the highest ‘character’ coordinate).

But I also need the minimum ascent. Is this possible via pango/fontconfig or some other library? (linux)

patchwork
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  • There is no need for such a function, mainly because "ascent" is not a fixed value: every character in a font may have a different ascent. The "max" is just provided for very basic accent placement. (You should not, for instance, try to use it to determine line heights.) – Jongware Jun 20 '15 at 11:40
  • @Jongware - I have to provide this value for someone else - what they use the minimum ascent for is beyond my control. – patchwork Jun 20 '15 at 11:52
  • Then you have to ask them. Since "ascent" is just the highest point of the font overall ( it's not defined if this should include or exclude any accents), "the" minimum could be the height of a full stop `.`; or even *negative*, since an underscore `_` usually lives *below* the baseline. – Jongware Jun 20 '15 at 11:55
  • ok yes fair comment. i've since realised, that actually they don't mean minimum ascent. they actually mean descent. which, when added to ascent, they can use to calculate line height. – patchwork Jun 20 '15 at 12:03

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