2000-11-09 23:15:34 +01:00
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<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"
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"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd">
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2000-11-09 01:01:38 +01:00
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<html>
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<head>
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2000-11-09 23:15:34 +01:00
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
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content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
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<meta name="Author"
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content="David Turner">
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<title>FreeType Glyph Conventions</title>
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2000-11-09 01:01:38 +01:00
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</head>
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<body text="#000000"
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bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
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2000-11-09 23:15:34 +01:00
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<h1 align=center>
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FreeType Glyph Conventions
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</h1>
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2000-11-09 01:01:38 +01:00
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2000-11-09 23:15:34 +01:00
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<h2 align=center>
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Version 2.1
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2000-11-09 01:01:38 +01:00
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</h2>
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2000-11-09 23:15:34 +01:00
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<h3 align=center>
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Copyright 1998-2000 David Turner (<a
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href="mailto:david@freetype.org">david@freetype.org</a>)<br>
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Copyright 2000 The FreeType Development Team (<a
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href="mailto:devel@freetype.org">devel@freetype.org</a>)
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</h3>
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2000-11-09 01:01:38 +01:00
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<center>
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2000-11-09 23:15:34 +01:00
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<table width="65%">
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<tr><td>
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<center>
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<table width="100%"
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border=0
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cellpadding=5>
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<tr bgcolor="#CCFFCC"
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valign=center>
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<td align=center
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width="30%">
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<a href="glyphs-3.html">Previous</a>
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</td>
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<td align=center
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width="30%">
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<a href="index.html">Contents</a>
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</td>
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<td align=center
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width="30%">
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<a href="glyphs-4.html">Next</a>
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</td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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</center>
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<p><hr></p>
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<table width="100%">
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<tr bgcolor="#CCCCFF"
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valign=center><td>
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<h2>
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IV. Kerning
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</h2>
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</td></tr>
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</table>
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<p>The term <em>kerning</em> refers to specific information used to
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adjust the relative positions of coincident glyphs in a string of text.
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This section describes several types of kerning information, as well as
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the way to process them when performing text layout.</p>
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<a name="section-1">
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<h3>
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1. Kerning pairs
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</h3>
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<p>Kerning consists in modifying the spacing between two successive
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glyphs according to their outlines. For example, a "T" and a "y" can be
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easily moved closer, as the top of the "y" fits nicely under the upper
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right bar of the "T".</p>
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<p>When laying out text with only their standard widths, some
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consecutive glyphs seem a bit too close or too distant. For example,
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the space between the "A" and the "V" in the following word seems a
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little wider than needed.</p>
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<center><p>
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<img src="bravo_unkerned.png"
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height=37 width=116
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alt="the word 'bravo' unkerned">
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</p></center>
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<p>Compare this to the same word, where the distance between these two
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letters has been slightly reduced:</p>
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<center><p>
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<img src="bravo_kerned.png"
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height=37 width=107
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alt="the word 'bravo' with kerning">
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</p></center>
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<p>As you can see, this adjustment can make a great difference. Some
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font faces thus include a table containing kerning distances for a set
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of given glyph pairs for text layout.</p>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<p>The pairs are ordered, i.e., the space for pair (A,V) isn't
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necessarily the space for pair (V,A). They also index glyphs, and
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not characters.</p>
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</li>
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<li>
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<p>Kerning distances can be expressed in horizontal or vertical
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directions, depending on layout and/or script. For example, some
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horizontal layouts like Arabic can make use of vertical kerning
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adjustments between successive glyphs. A vertical script can have
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vertical kerning distances.</p>
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</li>
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<li>
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<p>Kerning distances are expressed in grid units. They are usually
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oriented in the <i>X</i> axis, which means that a negative
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value indicates that two glyphs must be set closer in a horizontal
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layout.</p>
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</li>
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</ul>
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<a name="section-2">
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<h3>
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2. Applying kerning
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</h3>
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<p>Applying kerning when rendering text is a rather easy process. It
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merely consists in adding the scaled kern distance to the pen position
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before writing each next glyph. However, the typographically correct
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renderer must take a few more details in consideration.</p>
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<p>The "sliding dot" problem is a good example: Many font faces include
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a kerning distance between capital letters like "T" or "F" and a
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following dot ("."), in order to slide the latter glyph just right to
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their main leg:</p>
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<center><p>
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<img src="twlewis1.png"
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height=38 width=314
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alt="example for sliding dots">
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</p></center>
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<p>This sometimes requires additional adjustments between the dot and
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the letter following it, depending on the shapes of the enclosing
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letters. When applying "standard" kerning adjustments, the previous
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sentence would become:</p>
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<center><p>
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<img src="twlewis2.png"
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height=36 width=115
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alt="example for too much kerning">
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</p></center>
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<p>This is clearly too contracted. The solution here, as exhibited in
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the first example, is to only slide the dots when possible. Of course,
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this requires a certain knowledge of the text's meaning. The above
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adjustments would not necessarily be welcome if we were rendering the
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final dot of a given paragraph.</p.
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<p>This is only one example, and there are many others showing that a
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real typographer is needed to layout text properly. If not available,
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some kind of user interaction or tagging of the text could be used to
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specify some adjustments, but in all cases, this requires some support
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in applications and text libraries.</p>
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<p>For more mundane and common uses, however, we can have a very simple
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algorithm, which avoids the sliding dot problem, and others, though not
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producing optimal results. It can be seen as</p>
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<ol>
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<li>
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Place the first glyph on the baseline.
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</li>
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<li>
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Save the location of the pen position/origin in <tt>pen1</tt>.
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</li>
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<li>
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Adjust the pen position with the kerning distance between the first
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and second glyph.
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</li>
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<li>
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Place the second glyph and compute the next pen position/origin in
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<tt>pen2</tt>.
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</li>
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<li>
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Use <tt>pen1</tt> as the next pen position if it is beyond
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<tt>pen2</tt>, use <tt>pen2</tt> otherwise.
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</li>
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</ol>
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<p><hr></p>
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<center>
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<table width="100%"
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border=0
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cellpadding=5>
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<tr bgcolor="#CCFFCC"
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valign=center>
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<td align=center
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width="30%">
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<a href="glyphs-3.html">Previous</a>
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</td>
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<td align=center
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width="30%">
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<a href="index.html">Contents</a>
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</td>
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<td align=center
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width="30%">
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<a href="glyphs-5.html">Next</a>
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</td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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</center>
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</td></tr>
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</table>
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</center>
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2000-11-09 01:01:38 +01:00
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</body>
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