theTypeBook is a Mac utility which aids in the creation and maintenence of a typeface reference book. This type of reference is extremely popular in the Graphics and Typesetting industries. It helps people (both clients and employees) select typefaces by demonstrating the various artistic attributes of each face on a printed page.
In the past, users of Mac DTP have had to generate typebooks themselves via the layout of each individual page in their favorite DTP application. Even when using a template strategy it is still necessary to select the Font and the FontStyle for each page, then edit the text so overflows and holes are controlled within reason. All this adds up to a significant amount of non-billable hours required to produce a typeface reference book.
theTypeBook eliminates the need for operator involvement in creating each page. Selection of the desired typefaces and issue of the Print command is all that is required. In fact there are no other direct functions available.
theTypeBook handles each typeface as an individual printing job. This has two advantages; it is not necessary to use the “Unlimited Downloadable Fonts” option except when printing layouts that show a number of fonts per page. If the printer is in a shared environment other printing jobs will be able to “slip-in” the printing queue.
theTypeBook is compatible with virtually all printers. All current Postscript and Truetype fonts are supported. Background printing and SuperLaserSpool are supported as well.
Using theTypeBook
theTypeBook provides a variety of layouts with which a typeface reference catalog may be constructed. Before beginning, the available layouts and options should be carefully considered. The production of a typeface reference is a sizeable task and theTypeBook will allow you to produce a number of specimens in short order. For all practical purposes the only bottleneck is the speed of the printer
The main “Sample Page” (described later) provides the most comprehensive showing of a typeface. It is a full-page layout, that is, one font per page. This is considered to be the main specimen format (but the choice is yours) and possesses the options for variation in the layout. These permit adjustment of the specimen to more closely match how you typically use type. Emphasis may be shifted from the default to predominately Display or to Body type.
Three other layouts are designed to consoldate type specimens into as few pages as possible by allowing multiple fonts per page. The “Index” page provides the greatest number with a maximum of 90 on letter size, 200 on tabloid (11x17). The “Line Showings” page has an optional maximum of 15. The “Type Showings” (or 6-up) layout is fixed at a maximum of 6. Of course the amount of information displayed about each font is directly related to the number of maximum samples in each of the layouts. Generally, the more fonts there are, the less space there is.
There are two other utility layouts designed to suppliment those previous described. They may also suppliment each other when used for “dingbat” fonts. These are the “All Characters” layout and the “Keycaps” layout. In fact, all of the layouts are design to work in harmony with each other.
A complete typeface reference might consist of a Sample Page of each font, and on the back of each page use an All Characters layout to display every character as large as possible. A second section using the All Characters layout as the primary specimen for “dingbat” fonts with a KeyCaps chart on the back of the page. A third section of Index pages for quick scanning of available typefaces.
Another combination might use the Sample page for “parent” fonts only, with the style variations on the back using either the Line Showing, Type Showing, or Index Layouts. Combined with the individual layout options there are a many possible variations.
The layouts and the options you choose should be based upon the type of work you do and your particular preferences. The combinations suggested above may work well together but by no means are they mandatory. Refer to the “Printing Pages” section for additional information.
The Page Footer – As distributed the bottom 32pts. of the page holds theTypeBook logo and tag-line/address of Golden State Graphics. For a small fee I will create a customized version of the page footer using the artwork and information you provide. This customization may include almost any type of artwork/copy within the space available. This provides a professional touch to your presentations of available typefaces. (See “Registering theTypeBook”.)
Printing with theTypeBook
A number of options have been added to the standard print dialog. These are “Cropmarks”, “Family Page Breaks”, “Facing Pages: Left, Right, and Centered”, and “Alternate Left/Right”. These are described in detail in the File Menu section on the Print Dialog. They are provided to make it possible to perform the printing operation in a convenient manner.
Cropmarks – are provided for those who plan to use theTypeBook with imagesetters. All of the options available in the standard Page Setup dialog are supported as well.
Facing Pages – adjusts the page margins for 3-ring punching. When using a two-sided combination for the book design, the first side may be run using the Left layout. Then reinserted into the paper tray in the opposite manner and the second side run using the Right layout.
Alternate Left/Right – causes the page margins to alternate between left and right facing during printer. The starting orientation is designated using the Left and Right selections. Some may find this preferrable when attacking the typeface reference from front to back as opposed to a series of operations.
Even/Odd page printing – Odd prints only the left-facing pages, and Even prints only the right-facing pages from the currently selected range of typefaces. This greatly simplifies the creation of a catalog using two-sided page.
You may want to plan your printing sessions around times when your Mac is not is use, unless you are using background print spooling. It takes about 45 seconds for theTypeBook to generate a page layout. However, the time it takes to image in the printer involves a number of other factors: the speed on the printer, the complexity of the specimen font, and the size and content of the layout selected.
Depending on the artwork supplied for customized versions the are usually 4 different versions of the logo installed inside the application. A postscript version (the original) is used for maximum resolution purposes and takes longest in terms of output time. The other three are high-resolution bitmaps: 360, 300, and 72 dpi. When output at the appropriate resolution these provide the faster output times with only a small decrease in quality (barely noticable).
These are usually selected automatically by theTypeBook but if you have a postscript printer and just want to pump out pages... and don't mind a minor difference in the logo... use the Output Options (see The File Menu) to select Quickdraw only and then the resolution you are happy with.
About the Layouts
theTypeBook provides 6 basic page layouts that may be used individually or in combination to create a typeface reference specific to your needs and/or desires. Each layout is carefully designed to provide a maximum amount of useful information while maintaining a pleasing appearance that does affect the emphasis on the typeface specimens.
There are a number of options available that affect all layouts, and still more that apply to specific layouts, that provide additional control over the content and appearence. For example, the size and typefaces used to print the page titles and other static data are independently user selectable. The options you select are remembered between executions of theTypeBook to help maintain consistancy as your typeface reference grows.
The are two catagories of layouts: Those that concentrate on a single typeface specimen, and those that provide a number of typeface specimens per page. Single typeface specimens are titled automatically during printing using the "true" outline name, or currently assigned "AKA" if any. Multiple typeface specimen page titles are optionally changed through selections in the Layouts menu.
You can also control whether the specimens are printed in left-facing, right-facing, or centered format. Facing page options appear in the Print Dialog. The default setting is "Left Facing", when looking at the edge of a bound page it is printed on the left side.
The Sample Page
The Sample Page is the most comprehensive of all of the specimen layouts. It also has the greatest number of options between all other layouts. The copy text used in the sample paragraphs may be changed using a full featured text editing window, the size and leading of each individual paragraph may also be changed.
Basic Sample Page One Possible Option...
The main specimen page consists of seven distinct parts:
Title – This is the “True” outline name of the typeface. It is located at the top and usually right-justified on the page. All pages are in the same format which is designed for a 3-hole punch. This facilitates updating an existing book with new additions or reorganizing pages. The Facing Pages option in the print dialog moves the name to the left side of the page.
Strength – A series of one line showings of the typeface at various point sizes. Demonstrates how well a face holds-up at these sizes.
Letter Form – A 48 pt. display of selected characters available from the typeface. Sufficiently large enough to compare the various attributes of similar faces. If Extra Colors Samples is selected in the Layout menu the Letter Form display will be reduced to 36 pt. If you select either of the metric measurement modes a slightly different set of characters will be used and will include a few of the most popular European characters are added.
Type Color Samples – A series of sample paragraphs are printed to demonstrate how the typeface might work as body copy. Certain point size and leading combinations cause the paragraph as a whole to appear lighter or darker on a page. The point size and leading used to produce each of the sample paragraphs may be independently set through the Color Sample Specs dialog in the Layouts menu. The text used may be changed via the Edit Menu’s Color Sample Text command.
A special text wrapping algorithm is used which breaks words at the last character that will fit a the line. It does not hyphenate or search for a space to break a line of text. This inhibits “holes” from appearing in the samples and provides for a consistent color comparison. When printing to a legal-size page or when Extra Color Samples is selected, three additional color samples are provided.
(See below for more about the sample text.)
Chars/Pica [Chars/Cicero] – This is the average number of characters the will fit in one Pica of column width. It is computed from the fractional character widths of individual characters and based on the sample text in the Type Color section of the page. The fractional character width data is obtained directly from the current FOND resource for the selected character style.
Cap Height [Inches/Millimeters] – This table indicates the approximate point size required in this typeface to produce a capital letter of a desired size. This is an approximate number due to the fact that not all font designs fill to the top of their font rectangles. Quite often there is an extra white space at the top of the rectangle. When it is present, theTypeBook obtains the Font Ascent value from the FOND resource. Otherwise theTypeBook looks at the top 8 bits in the character bitmap font until it finds a black one. Whichever of these values is then scaled to the appropriate size which is subject to some minor deviations during calculation. This means that occasionally font sizes in the larger scales, the recommended sizes may be a point or two off.
If Extra Color Samples is selected in the Layout menu the Cap Height data will not be displayed. Since the emphasis of this layout is mainly on body copy, only the Char/Pica information is displayed.
No Measurements – If so desired, both copyfit measurements may be replaced by a additional display of the specimen typeface. The measurements tables are replaced with a 96pt display sample by selecting “No Measurements” from the Measurements menu. If Extra Color Samples is selected this will be a 48 pt. display of the characters Aa through Zz - whatever fits on one line.
More About the Sample Text.....
The Average Character Width and Cap Height data are computed from the “fractional” data contained in the FOND resource. The FOND contains character width tables for each style based on a size of 1pt. The width values of all the characters in the color sample are scaled to size and added together, that value is divided by the total number of characters used. This is similar to stringing all the letters together on a single line to obtain the total width. It does not take into account possible word-wrapping or hyphenization when copy is restricted to a specified column width. Therefore typespecing calculations are considered to be approximate values.
The Type Showings page
Named the “Six-up layout”, there are 6 type specimens in columnar form per page. Each of these consist of two sizes of the specimen font and a mini-size copyfitting table. When Use Font ID Info is enabled in the Page Comments dialog the ID number and Type of font are shown immediately below the typeface name. The FOND Name and style menu selections are shown at the bottom of each type specimen.
You can set the title used on the Type Showings pages through the “6-Up Showings Title” dialog in the Layouts menu. This is useful when categorizing your fonts. Some titles might be “Serif Fonts”, “Shareware Fonts”, “Cheltenham Family”, or “Package #198” for example.
The Type Showings page title will be overridden by the basename of a font family if “Family page breaks” is turned on in the Print Dialog. Family page breaks will start a new page of Type Showings when the base family name changes during the printing process. This option allows you to automatically group type showings into a family organization. If you do not edit the 6-Up Showing Title the default title “Type Showings” will be used.
The copy text may be changed using the text editing window. The size of the large sample and the size and leading, of the sample paragraph may also be changed. Measurements used in the tables may be in either Picas or Ciceros.
Floating Paragraph Length Fixed Paragraph Length
Other Specimen Pages
The remaining basic layouts may used to create a more specialized typeface reference or as suppliments to the previously described layouts.
Variable Number of specimens Auto or Fixed sizing to 300 pts.
Index page for quick reference Handy Keycaps chart
Line Showings Page – This feature will combine the selected typefaces on a page (or pages) into a collection of two-line showings. Its main purpose is creating an overview of your font collection. For each selected typeface two line a printed display upper and lower case characters, numerals, and popular punctuation at a fixed point size.
The number of samples per page is controlled by the page size selected and the Line Showings Specs dialog in the Layouts menu. Sample sizes from 10 to 51 pts may be used. The size affects the number of samples that will fit on a page. The number of samples must be from 4 to 15. If an improper combination is entered a beep will sound when you click OK. When possible the closest allowable value will replace the improper one automatically.
The “Comment Text” feature also applies to the Line Showing pages allowing you to further categorize. ie. “Adobe Type-1”, “Monotype”, “Postscript”, “TrueType”, “Based on the original design”, etc. When Include Font ID info is enabled through the Page Comments dialog Fond ID information is printed right-justified opposite the corresponding outline name for each font on each page.
The Keycaps Page – Simply prints a keycaps chart which indicates the necessary key combinations needed to generate a particular character. Keycaps charts are extremely helpful when working with Dingbats type fonts.
All Characters Page – This feature displays the printable Character set at the largest possible point size using a full-page format. Typefaces which are condensed or have a smaller cap height will be printed at larger sizes than normal. Typefaces which are extended will be printed at smaller sizes. The sample size is initially set at 60pts. The sum of all the character widths is computed and the point size is adjusted downward until all lines needed fit on a single page.
Index Page – The Index page provides a brief overview of your fonts by providing a small sample of up 90 fonts per letter size page. The Index page is currently the only layout that supports the Tabloid (11"x16") page size.
When printing to a tabloid page size the Index layout is modified to 4 columns providing up to 200 fonts per page. If the Facing Pages "Center" option is turned on in the print dialog the page title will be centered on the page making it suitable for a wall chart.
Launching theTypeBook
theTypeBook may be launched like just about any other Macintosh application. During program startup a couple of dialog boxes will appear indicating the "build status" of the list of installed fonts. Depending on the number of fonts installed they may appear briefly or as long as 2 minutes.
During this time the true outline names are being obtained from each of the FOND resources currently available to the system. True outline names take a little longer but greatly simplify the identification and selection of available typefaces.
The list of available typefaces is also sorted alphabetically by "family" and by "weight" of each family member. This provides for a well ordered list for selection of groups of typefaces for printing. However, some fonts do not follow established naming conventions. theTypeBook provides for this situation through the "AKA"s feature. See the section on "Using AKAs" for more information about this.
The preference settings used during the previous session are restored and the fonts selected in the Fonts and Measures preferences are verified for their availability. If any font required by theTypeBook cannot be found you will be presented with an Alert dialog. You may “Continue” opening theTypeBook or Quit. If you continue, you should be sure to reselect the layout fonts before printing any specimen pages.
When quitting theTypeBook, the current Page Setup and Layout selections are saved. This will set-off some Virus detection utilities as the two storage resources are saved. If you created, or opened, an AKA list and have not save it, you will be prompted if you want to quit anyway.
When the list of available typefaces has been completed the About dialog will appear announcing the readiness for use. Click the mouse or press any key to dismiss the dialog and begin.
Transporting theTypeBook
To overcome compatibility with some printer combinations when transporting theTypeBook from one environment to another hold down the option key immediately after double-clicking to launch it. This will force the replacement of all “saved” printer settings of theTypeBook with the default settings of the currently selected printer (in the Chooser). This is only necessary between certain types and brands of printers and should normally be required.
Program Localization
All text used to produce the page layouts and dialogs contained in theTypeBook have been removed from the program’s code and placed into string resources to make “localization” easier and more complete.
Some of the resources serve as templates controlling which characters are printed and in what order. The Keycaps resource is a good example of this. Each keyboard key is immediately followed by the four possible characters available by using the modifiers keys. This pattern repeats for each key on the keyboard.
Using theTypeBook
The Main Window
Below is a sample of theTypeBook’s main window. The main feature is the list of available typeface sorted by family name and weight. Below are two indicators: "Selected" indicates the current number of typefaces currently selected for printing, "Total faces" is the total number of typefaces currently available to the system. Note that this may or may not correspond to the number of "FONDs" that have been installed. Each FOND is capable of supporting numerous typefaces.
At the bottom of the window are two buttons which represent the basic functionality of theTypeBook utility. It is simply a mechanism for printing a typeface reference. The bulk of the printing is accomplished through the File menu (where the various layout selections are) and is described later in this document.
theTypeBook eliminates duplicated names resulting from non-merged or partially merged font families and then sorts the list according to the weight name of the typefaces. The available typefaces are listed in order of weight (lightest to heaviest) the typeface specimens will appear in this order on each page or pages. The sorting order of theTypeBook is:
1. Regular width face sorted lightest to heaviest.
2. Titling faces, lightest to heaviest.
3. Condensed style typefaces sorted beginning with the thinnest to the widest, sub-sorted to lightest to heaviest.
4. Extended style typefaces sorted beginning with the thinnest to the widest, sub-sorted to lightest to heaviest.
5. Expert style typefaces. These are sub-sorted by the first 4 categories.
Making Typeface Selections
Typeface selection is simplified by presenting the menu of installed fonts in their “True” outline names. In this way, each face is selected individually and the standard Style Menu is no longer required.
Selections may be made by typing the name, continuing until the appropriate name is selected. Typeface selection continues while you type unless you pause for two seconds or more. You may also use the up and down arrows in conjunction with the shift key. Of course you can also use the mouse in the typical fashion. If no other windows are open, the “Select All” command in the edit menu is also available.
Working with Suitcase II or MasterJuggler
When you access the “Suitcase” or “MasterJuggler” desk accessory the font list will be rebuilt when you return to theTypeBook. This is necessary to keep pace with any changes that might affect the available fonts.
This feature may be overridden by holding down the Shift-key as you grab the Apple menu. Use this feature to save time when working with DA files, otherwise you ALWAYS want to rebuild when changing font files.
After you have selected the DA, you will be prompted to save any currently loaded "AKA Name" and/or "Face Comments" currently active. If none are active, or after saving has completed, the DA will open for use.
theTypeBook is currently capable of supporting up to 4,000 typefaces online simultaneously. It is also fully compatible with the Suitcase utility from Fifth Generation. In fact, there is no need to exit the program to change font suitcase files. theTypeBook automatically detects selection of the Suitcase DA and updates the list of available fonts as soon as you close the Suitcase window.
Rudementary checking for “resource problems” is always performed when the list of available typefaces is built. When completed, if any errors were detected a dialog will be displayed showing the FOND name <if possible> and the kind of error encountered.
The File Menu
You must select one or more typefaces from the list to enable the Print button and Printing selections in the File menu. When you make a print selection one or more pages will be produced on the currently selected printer based upon the number selected and the layout used.
The Print button at the bottom of the main window will print the "Sample Page" by default, it may also be selected from the File menu or by the command key equivalent.
• Command key equivalents use the number keys since they are easier to
remember than a bunch of command-option-control-shift combinations.
• Page Setup may be accessed using the command-option-p key combination.
This is similar to other applications. Page Setup is accessed with some
frequency to enable/disable the “Unlimited Downloadable Fonts” option
for postscript printers. It is described in the appropriate section below.
Before you begin any print job you should always double-check your Page Setup dialog, especially if you are going to jump right into a large number of pages. This also has the side benifit of re-affirming connection with the printer from the system’s point of view.
Page Setup
Below is an example of the standard Page Setup dialog used by theTypeBook. Use this dialog to select the appropriate page size and orientation for the currently selected printer.
theTypeBook currently supports only the letter, legal, and A4 pages sizes. Selection of any other will produce an Error Alert when the print command is issued.
Before printing Line Showing specimen pages it is recommended that “Unlimited Downloadable Fonts” be enabled. Printing is faster when other specimens are printed if “Unlimited Downloadable Fonts” is not enabled. This option is accessed by clicking the “Options” button in the Page Setup dialog.
Page Setup Options
When you click to option button of the Page Setup dialog you are presented with a second dialog containing additional printing option. Of particular interest is the “Unlimited Downloadable Fonts” option at the bottom. This feature should be turn on (if available) when printing specimen pages that show multiple fonts. This will avoid “out of memory” errors due to too many fonts. Conversely, the “Unlimited Downloadable Fonts” option should be turned off when printing specimen layouts using just one font.
There is no benefit to turning on “Larger Print Area”. If it is theTypeBook will adjust to ensure the image remains in the same position on the page.
The Print Dialog
For all remaining items in the File menu, except for Quit, the following Print dialog is used. It contains the standard items in addition to some unique to theTypeBook.
Use AKAs – This function is enabled only when one or more typefaces have been assigned an AKA name. When enabled, and turned-on the “true outline name” will be replaced by the text entered in the AKA dialog for each individual typeface specimen.
Cropmarks – Enabled only when the currently selected printer is a postscript printer. In particular a postscript imagesetter which usually has a large enough image area to support the addition of cropmarks. If you select cropmarks and the printer does not support a large enough area the print out will appear clipped off.
Family Page Breaks – Enabled only when one of the muliple fonts layouts is selected for printing. When enabled, and turned on, a new page will be started each time a new font family “basename” is encountered during printing.
Facing Pages – Consists of three options: Left, Right, and Center. The choices affect the sizes of the left and right margins. When Left is select all pages will be printed with the larger margin on the left side of the page producing a left facing page when looked at from the “outer edge”. When Right is selected, all pages are printed with the larger margin on the right side. Turning on the “Alternate Left/Right” option will cause the margin to switch back and forth beginning with the initail selection of Left or Right.
Even/Odd page printing – The Buttons "Even", "Odd", and "Both" become enabled only when the "Alternate Left/Right" checkbox is turned on. Odd prints only the left-facing pages, and Even prints only the right-facing pages from the currently selected range of typefaces. This greatly simplifies the creation of a catalog using two-sided page.
At the very bottom of the dialog is a brief status report of the Page Setup.
When OK is clicked in the Print dialog, a series of dialogs will be presented indicating the current printing status. The messages, and the order in which they appear are directly related to the type and brand of printer you are using.
The first possibility is the “Preparing Page” status dialog. It indicates the type of page being prepared. “Preparing Sample Page”, “Preparing Keycaps Page”, or “Preparing Character Set Page” will be displayed followed by the selected font name. During this time a complete Quickdraw picture is created and is usually very brief. This “picture” of the page is later translated by the print driver (chooser device) during printing.
The remaining status dialogs depend on the type of printer in use and whether or not there is any background print utility active. If it is an ImageWriter you will receive a “Spooling Page...” dialog. If not it will proceed directly to “Printing Page...”. If background printing is active the page will be sent to disk otherwise it will go directly to the printer.
The print cycle may be cancelled at any time by pressing Command-period. If the page has already spooled to disk you will have to use the Print Monitor to cancel the output to the printer.
If you have trouble printing try re-initializing the print record saved in previous executions. Do this by holding down the option key while launching theTypeBook. If problems persist try switching to pure QuickDraw output by holding down the option key and selecting “Output Options” from the File menu.
Output Options
The print driver normally performs all translation for the Mac’s native drawing form (Quickdraw) to the native form of the selected printer (which could be anything Postscript,TrueImage,PCL,etc.). When versions 3.0 and later are connected to a Postscript printer, theTypeBook will bypass the driver translation at certain points. This is necessary to provide landscape orientation and cropmarks on PS imagesetters.
Any Postscript printer that uses version 5.2 or later of the standard Apple LaserWriter driver should be compatible with theTypeBook’s Postscript. Any other driver’s may or may not be. Especially if they are seen as a postscript driver by the Mac, but in reality they are something else. Hence the “Output Options” provide a means to automatically override the direct use of postscript. If a non-postscript printer is selected theTypeBook will detect this and print using Quickdraw anyway.
The “Output Options” are accessible by holding down the option-key and selecting “Output Options” from the file menu. The Output Options temporarily replace the Page Setup selection in the File menu while the option key is held down. A dialog is displayed containing the two basic options:
Auto Postscript Detection – This is the standard operating mode. If a printer identifies itself as a postscript printer theTypeBook will send it postscript code directly. If a non-postscript printer is detected, output will be sent through the driver as Quickdraw and then translated by the driver. Also the appropriate resolution of a bitmapped version of the footer logo will be selected automatically.
Always Use Quickdraw – This mode overrides the automatic postscript detection and always draws pages using Quickdraw. The Quickdraw image is then translated by the printer driver as it is being sent to the printer. This represents the maximum compatibility archived through normal means. In Quickdraw mode you also have the option to manually select a logo resolution. This provides some additional control over how the logo looks and how fast it will print.
When you have finished configuring the output click OK implement the changes. Or, Cancel to abort any changes. The selections you make will be remembered by theTypeBook until you change them again.
The Edit Menu
theTypeBook’s Edit menu contains all of the standard Edit menu items. However the majority are disabled most of the time.
Copy and Paste - menu commands are only available while the “Color
Sample Text” window is open and active. These commands work in the usual
Mac fashion allowing you to transfer text to and from other applications
and desk accessories.
Note that copy and paste are also available in a number of other dialogs used
by theTypeBook. However, since they are modal dialogs they are not affected
by the status of the Edit Menu. That is, copy and paste in dialogs is always
active where supported.
Select ALL
“Select All” is always enabled in the Edit menu and performs as expected. If issued when viewing the list of available typefaces it selects all of the names in the list. The number of Selected faces below the list will match the Total Faces available.
When viewing text in the Color Samples Text window “Select All” selects all of the text whether it is visible or not.
Type Sample template
This is the template used for the top section of the sample page layout and the top section of the Sixup specimens. Is a simple line showing of the most popular characters of the standard character set. Use this dialog to make semi-permanent changes to the characters used.
Clicking the Defaults button restores the templates to the original distribution configuration. This applies to all template dialogs described in the remainder of this section This allow you to temporily change the template to fit the needs of only a few fonts and later restore the template back to orginal form.
Characters template
This is the template used the the Characters page layout. It contains all the printable and typeable characters by default.
Line Show template
This dialog contains the templates for the Line Showings layout. There are two separate lines for each of the standard or metric (alt) modes.
Uprcse/Lwrcse template
This template is used in a number of other layouts and is simple the first half of the alphabet in both upper and lower case letters. This sample is the primary template for the Index layout, and is also used on the Sample Page to replace the tables when No Measurements is selected.
Change Editing Font
This feature can make editing the previously described templates much easier. The default fonts, as the are on the Macintosh, do not support what is known as "the extended character set". These characters are display as empty boxes and may be changed, you just can not see it. The Change Editing Font dialog presents a reduced selection of the currently available fonts. The font selected will be used by all the editing dialogs.
Bitmap fonts will not appear if they are not enabled in the main font list. If the current font is not available, the Monaco font will be appended to the list and selected as the default.
Color Sample Text
The Color Samples Text window is a full featured text editing window. The text displayed in the window is used to create the sample color paragraphs. At the bottom window is the current character count of the text.
The standard Mac text editing functions are available. Click-drag, double-click, shift-click, arrow keys, etc.. Cut and Paste is also supported in the normal fashion.
The text may anything but should be something similar to the typical writing style used. This is important since this text is also used for computation of the Characters per Pica (or Cicero) data printed on the main specimen page. If the text is typed in all capitals, then the copyfit data will reflect copy set in all caps.
When changes are made to the text, a dialog will appear to confirm “Saving” or “Discarding” the changes when the Color Samples Text window is closed. The sample text window may be closed by clicking the Close box or typing Command-w.
The Layouts Menu
Selections in the Layouts menu affect the configuration of one or more printed specimen pages. They facilitate creation of a Type Specimen Catalog more closely tailored to individual requirements.
No Measurements
This option applies only to the main specimen page. When selected, the copyfit
data which is normally printed will be replaced by an additional display of the
typeface in a large size.
The display is the sequence of Aa to Zz or as much as will fit on one line. The
size of the display is affected by the “Extra Color Samples” selection (see
below). If Extra Color Samples are selected then the display size is 48 pt.,
otherwise it will be 96 pt..
Extra Color Samples
The “Extra Color Samples” is designed for those having more emphasis on body copy than display type. This layout is a modification to the main specimen page layout. The difference is the addition of 3 more color sample paragraphs for a total of 6 independently controlled samples. This affects the 48 pt display which is reduced to 36 pt and the alternate 96 pt display is reduced to 48 pt.
If measurements are enabled then only the Characters per Pica (or per Cicero) will displayed, the Cap Height data will not be shown.
The current selection state of “Extra Color Samples” is saved and restored when you Quit and Launch theTypeBook.
Layout Fonts & Measures
Fonts used for font names, titles and data on the sample pages may now be changed via the “Layout Fonts & Measure” menu selection.
The dialog contains a scrolling list of available fonts. Selecting a name in the list enables the two “Set Font” buttons. Click one or the other to set either the Fontname/Title font or the bodyfont respectively. The list may be automatically scrolled to an alphabetical position by pressing a letter a through z.
If either of the selected typefaces are not available you will be notified when launching theTypeBook.
NOTE: If you use lengthy AKAs or Comments you may find it useful to change the FontNames/Line Showings Font to a Condensed typeface.
Measurements radio buttons provide selection between decimal and metric typesetting statistics. The selections made affect the display characters used in the specimen pages. There are two separate sets of display characters, the american english and one containing additional european characters.
The “Don’t Use Reversed Heads” checkbox provides control over whether or not font names are printed in reversed type on the Line Showings and Type Showings pages. Fonts names on these pages are normally printed white on a black background so that they standout from the specimen displays. Turning this option “on” cause the font names to print black on white with a line above and a line below instead.
Line Showing Title
Since each font name appears in the body of the page allow with its two-line specimen the page title is available for other uses. Select “Line Showings Title” from the Layouts menu or press the Command-L key combination to change or examining the current Line Showings title.
The default title is “Line Showings” which is appropriate if all fonts are simply printed in alphabetical order. When fonts are being categorized it is desirable to reflect the category in the page title.
Some examples would be:
Serif Fonts
Shareware Fonts
Cheltenham Family
Package #198
Sixup Showing Title
The Sixup Showings page title operates exactly the same as the Line Showings title above.
Index Page Title
The Index page title operates exactly the same as the Line Showings title above.
Color Samples Specs
The Color Samples Specs dialog provides the setup of the size and leading used for each of the sample paragraphs. Each paragraph is setup independent of the others and are shown in the order in which the appear on the printed page.
The sizes may range from 4 to 60 points, though not many 60 point characters will fit in the space available. The leading value is an absolute leading independent of the size for that paragraph.
The tab-key may be used to move between the fields and paragraphs.
Line Showing Specs
Selecting Line Showings Specs in the Layouts menu displays a dialog indicating the point size and the number of samples per page that will be used in the Line Showings layout. It permits adjusting the look or economy of the specimens.
The dialog also indicates the “Maximum” samples possible based on the currently selected page size (from the Page Setup dialog) and the sample’s point size. By decreasing the point size the maximum number of samples per page may be increased. As the point size increases the maximum number of samples is reduced. If the OK button is pressed with an invalid combination a beep will sound and the appropriate item to change highlighted and set to the closest allowable value.
The Maximum Number of Samples is updated every time a numeric key is pressed. The message “<Error>” indicates that the combination of the point size and the number of samples would exceed the printable area of the selected page.
Sample point sizes must be in the range of 10pts to 51pts. The number of samples must be in the range of 4 to 15 samples per page.
Turning on “Names on Outer Margin’ will cause the names of each of the typefaces to be printed on the outer margin side of the font specimen. When Font ID comments are enabled, they will still be printed opposite the Outline name but switch back and forth between the left and right side of the page as well.
Sixup Showing Specs
This dialog provides control for the sizes used for the type sample at the top and each specimen and the color sample paragraph at the bottom. An absolute leading value for the color sample paragraph may also be set. Using the checkbox the color sample paragraph may be set to automatically fill in the extra space that appears in the type sample with smaller fonts are used. Or, it may be set to be fixed at the original default position.
Characters Specs
This dialog allows you to specify a starting size for the automatic font scaling used in Characters layout. The starting size must be in the range 36 to 300 pts. If automatic scaling is enabled via the checkbox theTypeBook will begin with the size you specify and scale downward until all characters in its template can be printed on a single page. If automatic scaling is disabled the starting size will be used as a fixed size value and no downward scaling will occur. Characters will wrap down the page until the page is full and any remaining characters will be ignored.
Index Showing Specs
Index Showing Specs, is almost identical to the Line Showings Specs. Enter a valid point size in the range of 12 pt to 36 pt. The maximum number that will fit in one column will be displayed. Enter a number per column less than or equal to the maximum number displayed. On all pagesizes, except tabloid, there are three columns. At 12 pts on a letter pagesize the maximum is 30 per column or 90 specimens per page. On a tabloid (11"x17") pagesize, the maximum per column is 50 yielding 200 fonts per page.
Notes About printing massive index pages...
Be sure that the fonts you are printing are in perfect condiition, ideally you would have already printed them at least once. This is mainly due to the amount of time required to download and image a large number of fonts.
When "Unlimited Downloadable Fonts" is on, postscript printers usually keep only those fonts for which there is an immediate need. Others are discarded and redownloaded if needed again later. Typically not more than the last three fonts used remain in the printer memory. In a nutshell... providing that not one of the characters in any of the fonts produce a postscript error, the printer will NOT run out of memory. It works on my 1.5MB LaserWriter Plus though it takes 45 minutes for the 90 specimen letter page!
SuperATM and Multiple Masters provide for an interesting twist. They require that "Unlimited Dowloadable Fonts" be disabled (off). This indicates that SuperATM must manage the printer's memory in some other way. What this implies is still unclear and I would like to hear about any experiences other may have.
The FontList menu
The FontsList menu provides control over the contents of the available typefaces list.
Show Bitmap Fonts
When checked, bitmap fonts will be included in the list and may be printed
using any of the layouts. Unchecked, bitmap fonts are suppressed from
appearing in the list. There is no affect on either postscript or truetype
fonts listed.
Save Ordered List
Save Ordered List saves a copy of the current font list to a tab delimited text file in the exact order in which it is displayed. Each line in the text file represents a record that consists of: Outline Name, FOND Name, Style, and Type. This list may be used for other purposes, however, it is intended to serve as a temporary sorting alternative for those with extraordinary needs.
The list can be opened by most database and spreadsheet programs, re-sorted - say by font type, and then exported back to a text file. The resulting list file would then be loaded back into theTypeBook using the "Use Ordered List" selection.
Sample Ordered List, sorted by type and fontname...
Chicago Chicago Plain BM
Geneva Geneva Plain BM
Monaco Monaco Plain BM
AltsysFogMM AltsyFogMM_500 RG 500 NO Plain MM
TriangleMM TrianMM_500 RG 700 NO 50 MD 160 MG Plain MM
Courier Courier Plain PS
Courier-Oblique Courier Italic PS
Courier-Bold Courier Bold PS
Courier-BoldOblique Courier Bold-Italic PS
Use Ordered List
When an Ordered List is loaded theTypeBook verifies that each font in the list is installed. If not, it will be excluded. Additionally installed fonts not in the list are also excluded. Only fonts both in the list and installed can be selected for printing. Additionally, selection of typefaces via typing the name is disabled.
Both AKA text files and Face Comment files may be merged into an Ordered List. Load times will be somewhat longer however.
Any action that causes the list of available typefaces to be rebuilt will automatically discard the Ordered List. These include: selection of "Sort On Outline Names", "Show Bitmap Fonts", and selection of "Suitcase II" in the Apple menu. All previously described consequences of a loaded Ordered List will be restored to normal operation.
Assign AKA Name
Provides font name alias capability called “AKA” (Also Known As...). These AKAs may replace the “True Outline Name” on the printed page or can be used to control the order of appearance of any or all of your fonts in the main list.
When printing the use (or appearance) of AKA names on the output may be enabled or disabled via a checkbox item in the “Print...” dialog. The checkbox is titled “Use AKAs”. When checked, the AKA name will replace the Outline name for each specimen that has one assigned. When un-checked, only the Outline name will be used. This allows full usage of AKA names to control print order without sacrificing the ability to identify the printed specimen.
Fonts which have an assigned AKA entry are displayed in the italic style in the list of available typefaces.
To create an AKA, double-click on the typeface name you wish to assign the AKA to. You may also select one and only one typeface to enable the “Assign AKA” selection in the Fontlist menu. Select “Assign AKA” or press Command-/.
You will be presented with a dialog indicating the name of the typeface for which the AKA is begin created. If an AKA already exists, it will be displayed in the edit area otherwise the edit area will contain only the flashing cursor. If you hold down the option-key when you double-click on a typeface name that name will be added to the edit area of the dialog only if an AKA does not already exist.
To delete an AKA, double-click on the “italicized” typeface name or select one and select “Assign AKA” from the Fontlist menu. When the dialog box appears the edit area will contain the AKA. It will be selected automatically. Press the delete key to remove the AKA and click OK (or press return) to confirm the change.
Use AKA List
AKAs may be loaded in from a tab-delimited text file. The tab-delimited text file is simply a list of the outline names and corresponding AKAs. Each Outline name is followed by a <tab> character which is followed by the AKA Name which is followed by a <return>. This is a format that is easily generated by word processor, spreadsheet, and database applications.
Select “Use AKAs” under the FontList menu. You will be presented with the standard Mac dialog for opening disk files. Each outline name will be searched for in the list of available typefaces. When an exact match is found the corresponding AKA is assigned. If no match is found execution continues normally with the next name in the list.
You may read in any number of AKA text files. If a typeface already has an AKA definition, it will be replaced by the one contained in the text file. All others are “added to” the currently assigned AKAs.
Save AKA List
All currently assigned AKAs may be saved to a tab-delimited text file. Saved AKA files and others which correspond in format may be called on to reassign the AKAs at a later date.
Select “Save AKAs” under the FontList menu. You will be presented with the standard Mac dialog for saving files to disk.
View Current AKAs
All currently assigned AKAs may be reviewed by selecting “View AKA List” from the Fontlist Menu. A dialog will be displayed containing a scrolling list of the original typeface names and their corresponding AKA names. Click OK, or press return to dismiss the dialog.
Clear All AKAs
All currently assigned AKAs may be cleared at once by selecting “Clear All AKAs” from the Fontlist menu. A dialog will appear asking you to confirm the removal of all AKA assignments.
Sort on AKA Name
Sorting by AKAs allows almost complete control over what order the typeface specimens are printed. For example Adobe sells both a Kabel and ITC Kabel font packages. They are entirely two separate families but most consider it desirable to have them appear consecutively in the list of available faces and when printed. This is easily accomplished by assigning “ITC Kabel” an AKA name of “Kabel(ITC)”. When sorted they will appear consecutively. Keep the ITC identification distinguishes it as a separate family. This is desirable for this particular situation because both families have the same weight names.
When sorting by AKA names the weight factor is still parsed. That is if you keep the same style variation names (or long versions for those abbreviated) the typefaces will still sort in the correct order by weight and slant for each font family. Space characters entered into AKA names have no effect on this sub-sort by weight and slant. Capitalization of name is signification to both the sorting order and identification of style names.
Changes the weight names can also be an advantage in a few cases. Adobe’s “Copperplate” family uses numbers instead of weight names. Because the numbers are written as words the style variations do not sort correctly. By assigning AKA names and using numeric keys in place of words for the style names the styles can be forced into the correct order. “32AB” instead of “ThirtyTwoAB”. This is still a text sort so leading spaces must be used when the number of digits is less than those of the highest number in use by a particular font family.
Sort on Outline Name
Sort on Outline names allows you to return to standard typeface order. AKA names are maintained when switching between the two sort modes
The Comments Menu
Page Comments
The Set Comments function provides the ability to add secondary
information to the specimen pages. It affects all layouts except for the
Keycaps page.
Use Set Comments to identify such things as the Manufacturer, Designer,
or any other information. Once entered the text will be used on all subsequent specimen pages until changed or deleted. Delete the text by selecting it in the Set Comments dialog and press Delete.
Set Comments takes advantage of available space as dictated by the length of the page title. This affects only the automatic text wrapping of the page comment. Line lengths may run up to approximately 20pts from the page title or 260pts total, whichever is smaller. There is a two line maximum.
The Set Comments dialog supports Cut, Copy, Paste and Select All command key combinations. Command-Period (.) closes the dialog without saving changes.
Entering Comment Text – How you enter text in addition to Including ID Info will affect the format of the printed comment. This adds some control to over the results.
In the Set Comments dialog the Return key is used when entering text. It becomes part of the text and is not the same (temporarily) as the Enter key. The Enter key is still used as the keyboard equivalent of the Ok button. If text is entered continuously without press entering a <return> character the text will be automatically wrapped to two lines if necessary. Normally the wrapped area will be 260 pts or the remaining area after the title has printed.
Entering a return at the desired end of the first line of the comment will “override” the text wrap. The line is printed completely without regard to the length of the page title which could overlap in many cases. This feature is most helpful when used with Include Font ID Info described below.
Use Font ID Info – This option probably satisfies the need for a Page Comment for the majority of users of theTypeBook. It automatically adds the FOND name (used in menus), the Style applied, the Font ID# and the Type of font for each typeface specimen.
The Included Font ID Info is the only comment that will appear in the Keycaps specimen page. On the other specimen pages it replaces the second line of the current comment text if any.
The Type of the font producing the typeface is indicated by one of four possible codes:
PS for Postscript
TT for Truetype
BM for Bitmap type fonts
MM for Multiple Masters type fonts
Note: theTypeBook takes preference to “Parent” FOND resources when sorting out typeface names. Typefaces produced by FOND resources for subordinate style variations are either ignored/skipped if the parent FOND is capable of producing it. When using the automatic “Use Font ID” comment all style variations will reflect information based on the parent FONDs.
The format of the printed ID Info depends upon the specimen page type printed and whether there is other comment text as well. For all pages except for the Keycaps and Line Showings page the Font ID Information will replace the second line of the comment text if there is one, or if there is only one line to begin with it still becomes the second.
If there is other comment text the ID Info will reflect only the Menu name and Style used to produce the typeface. Otherwise the first line will contain the Menu name and the second will contain the Style used, ID number, and Type of font.
In the Line Showings layout the Fond ID Information does not use the Comment area and has no affect on the other comment text if any. Instead the ID Info is printed with each typeface specimen individually. The Keycaps layout always provides the complete Font ID Information on one line at the lower-left of the chart.
Face Comments
Face Comments", it is basically identical to AKA Names in both features and functions. Each typeface in the list may have a comment "all its own" that appears on all layouts except the Index layout. Typefaces which have a Face Comment assigned to them appear with an "!" (exclamation point) in front of thier name in the list of available typefaces.
The length of a Face Comment has a maximum of 128 characters, though less space is available depending on the layout. Use Face Comments to make notations about vendors, other names, prices, etc..
On the main Sample Page and All Characters Page, the Face Comment appears just below the page header, right justified. On the KeyCaps Page the Face Comment appears right justified at the bottom of the chart. On the Sixup Page it appears just below the specimen name, right-justified. On the Line Showings page the Face Comment appears just below the specimen name and switches between left and right justified when "Names on Outer Margin" is on in the Line Showing Specs.
Assign Face Comment - optionally selected via command-\ or by holding down command-option while double-clicking on a typeface name.
Use Comments List - reads a tab-delimited text file matching Outline names in the first column to the list of available typefaces and assigning the text of the second column to the Face Comment for that typeface when found. Note: Face Comment text files and AKA Names text files are interchangable and are not checked for any differences.
Save Comments List - creates a tab-delimited text file of all currently assigned Face Comments.
View Comments List - Displays a scrolling list of all currently assigned Face Comments.
Clear Face Comments - Clears all currently assigned Face Comments.
