README: init

README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+# Iosvmata
+
+![Preview](preview.webp)
+
+***You can download the ttf files from the [releases tab][rel]
+(grab the `.tar.zst` file).***
+
+If you're like clean, "upright" looking fonts, then the chances are that you've
+come across [Iosevka][]. You've probably also come across [PragmataPro][].
+
+Both of these fonts are great in their own right but they both suffer from one
+fatal flaw - they're way too condensed for me to use for prolonged period of
+time without eye strain.
+
+The good news is that Iosevka provides an "Extended" variant which has wider
+spacing. However it's a bit *too* wide, which takes away from the slender feel
+of Iosevka.
+
+Iosevka however, isn't just a font family. It's more or less a full framework
+where you can pick and choose and customize just about everything. And so that's
+precisely what I did.
+
+The Iosvmata config is based on [Pragmasevka][], which tries to mimic
+PragmataPro as much as possible. The main goal of `Iosvmata` is to take things I
+like from Iosevka and PragmataPro but patch out things I don't like. Some
+notable changes (not exhaustive, see `Iosvmata.toml` for a full config):
+
+* Use a width of `550` which is just extended enough to not strain my eyes but
+  not *too* extended so that it takes away the condensed feel of
+  Iosevka/PragmataPro. (For reference, Iosevka Extended uses 600 and Pragmasevka
+  uses 500).
+* Uses the regular slashed 0.
+* Capital `J` has bar on top.
+* Uses the more "sharp" looking braces.
+* No ligatures.
+* A lot more non-alphanumeric characters are boldened compared to Pragmasevka
+  (see `punctuation.py`).
+
+[Iosevka]: https://typeof.net/Iosevka
+[PragmataPro]: https://fsd.it/shop/fonts/pragmatapro/
+[Pragmasevka]: https://github.com/shytikov/pragmasevka
+[rel]: https://github.com/N-R-K/Iosvmata/releases
+
+### Thanks to
+
+* [Pragmasevka][]: This project is pretty much a fork of Pragmasevka. So massive
+  thanks to it for laying the groundwork.
+
+## How to extract `.tar.zst`
+
+#### Linux/BSD/macos
+
+0. Install the `zstd` package (if you don't have it installed already).
+1. Run `tar -I zstd -xf Iosvmata.tar.zst`.
+
+#### Windows
+
+If you want a GUI then [7-zip-zstd](https://github.com/mcmilk/7-Zip-zstd)
+(`.exe` download [here](https://github.com/mcmilk/7-Zip-zstd/releases)) seems to
+be the recommended tool.
+
+If you are comfortable with command-line, `zstd` provides official [builds for
+windows](https://github.com/facebook/zstd/releases/) including a `zstd.exe`.