Where can I get information on the mechanics of fonts?

"There is an open source font creation app fontforge, that has a very helpful help page describing many of the fundamentals of font construction:

http://fontforge.sourceforge.net/overview.html#TOC

and hinting specifically is here:

http://fontforge.sourceforge.net/hinting.html

Some more font building & hinting resources: iLT how to make a font part II — ❧ —Truetype Hinting — ❧ — Adobe opntype font development kit ⊃ Adobe opentype hinting information — ❧ —Hinting tutorial from the DejaVu designers

Rendering Articles: How does sub-pixel rendering work? — ❧ — Font smoothing, anti-aliasing, and sub-pixel rendering

And just for fun:

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"After designing a font with the tool of your choice (the Adobe Suite is fine for this), throw it into FontLab and make the necessary changes then export it.

This guide covers the process fairly in-depth."

There is also an app called The Typography Manual for the iPhone and iPod Touch.