To use the plot in a document the MetaFont program must be run with the output file from GnuPlot as input. Thus, the user needs a basic knowledge of the font creating process and inclusion of a new font in a document. However, if the Metafont program is set up properly at the local site an unexperienced user could perform the operation without much trouble.
The text support is based on a MetaFont character set. Currently the Computer Modern Roman font set is input but the user are in principal free to chose whatever fonts he/she needs. The MetaFont source files for the chosen font must be available. Each character is stored in a separate picture variable in MetaFont. These variables may be manipulated (rotated, scaled etc.) when characters are needed. The drawback is the interpretation time in the MetaFont program. On some machines (i.e. PC) the limited amount of memory available may also cause problem if too many pictures are stored.