Improve Hebrew glyphs to be more legible

[Laxystem]

I've completely replaced ז (taken from my own, unreleased pixel font of the same size) and י, and made minor modifications to the כ (to differentiate it from the נ and the ב) and the ץ.

The ג could be improved as well (it is not pixel-perfect), but it is perfectly legible and I did not want to modify the style of the font too much.

[rwmpelstilzchen]

The proposed י is too narrow (2px wide), which makes it stand out in the text. Compare it with the current י (3px wide) or i (3px wide at the base).

[Laxystem]

Yes, I was aware of this; I had hoped it wouldn't be an issue.

I can replace this with a 3x3 י by elongating its hat, but I'm afraid it would make it too similar to the ר.

An alternative solution would be to use the cross י; That is, a cross/plus sign without the bottom line.

[qwerasd205]

I appreciate the effort to make a PR. If I came across as unwelcoming in our interaction on Discord it was because you started critiquing the font unprompted and had nothing positive to say about it, but the fact that you went through the effort to make this PR shows me that you must at least like the font enough to put in this effort.

That said, I put in a decent bit of thought, and these letterforms are design decisions.

As has been pointed out, the yod is shaped that way to account for the monospace nature of the font; letters narrower than 3px create unacceptable visual breaks in the middles of words. I experimented with multiple shapes when I was putting together the hebrew glyph set and the one I ended up with created the least objectionable breaks while still being a common form for the letter.

Your zayin confuses me. As far as I can tell, the shape I have is a very common form, so I do not understand your objection. Additionally your proposed version is problematic for multiple reasons-- it is stylistically incompatible with the other letters, and has an extended diagonal which create visual noise (so I prefer to avoid) and unacceptable optical thinning that makes it feel particularly top-heavy. If you could give examples of a non-pixelized version of the letterform you're trying to imitate perhaps it would help me understand.

Kaf, I will concede, would benefit from having the bottom rounded off-- I'm not sure what I was thinking when I drew it that way since it's exceptionally rare that it's drawn with a flatter bottom or sharper bottom corner than the top and that does indeed create unnecessary potential confusion.

Final tsadi, to my eyes, feels too empty without the serif inside, and sticks out from surrounding text too much.

I was not happy with gimel, but it is exceptionally hard to create a good, matching, legible gimel at that scale.

I will make a note to address these things - at the very least I'll definitely change the kaf - next time I update the font. I'll leave this PR open for further discussion until then.

[Laxystem]

and had nothing positive to say about it

Quite the opposite. I was very excited to find it -- all my critiques were out of pure curiosity. Note, I'll likely hard fork it as well; your build system is amazing and I wouldn't be able to come up with it on my own - I have an entire font designed, but I was unable to distribute it thus far.

The yod is shaped that way to account for the monospace nature of the font.

I have a better alternative then:

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It is often used by Hebrew speakers to solve puzzles, where Vav and Yod cannot be differentiated by context. I'll commit the change later today or tomorrow morning (in 12 hours or so). The current design is very jarring.

the shape I have is a very common form

In serif fonts, yes. But your pixelated version of it is not readable at all - it is more similar to the Ktav Final Khaf.

Usually, Dfus Zayin is written as a thinner, centered (T-like) Dalet; but this is very inelegant, and can be confused with Dalet easily. Therefore, I've chosen to tilt the usual design, creating a combination of the sans and serif designs. Perhaps removing the the outer pixels of my Zayin's hat or tweaking the diagonals will match your style more?

Unacceptable optical thinning that makes it feel particularly top-heavy

This is because it's pixel-perfect - but also, Zayin always looks that way.

Final tsadi, to my eyes, feels too empty without the serif inside, and sticks out from surrounding text too much.

It's a Final Tsadik. It's supposed to stand out. And it is a lot more readable in my design (yours took me a moment to recognize).

I was not happy with gimel, but it is exceptionally hard to create a good, matching, legible gimel at that scale.

It is possible to create a Gimmel without diagonals --- you could play around with it to find a version that matches your style.

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I'd give up on the backwards triangle - it is definitely not mandatory.

Additionally - have you attempted using a Ktav Gimmel instead?

[Laxystem]

Here's a word ("Yizkor", יזכור; "He shall remember"):