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. theTypeBook is compatible with virtually all printers.
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.
Typeface selection is simplified by presenting the menu of installed fonts in their "True" postscript names. In this way, each face is selected individually and the standard Style Menu is no longer required. Alphabetical sorting of the menu is also better with postscript names. Selections may be made by typing the name, continuing until the appropriate name is selected. 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.
Printing is disabled until one or more typefaces have been selected. When you issue the Print command via the button, menu selection, or command-key equivalent. Command-P prints the sample page, Command-Option-P prints the Keyboard layout table, and Shift-Command-Option-P prints the "All Characters" sample page. theTypeBook will produce a single page of output for each selection in the list in the appropriate format.
The Catalog Layout
The main catalog page consists of seven distinct parts:
Title
This is the "True" postscript name of the typeface. It is located at the top and 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 (facing pages does not).
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. Sufficently large enough to compare the various attributes of similar faces.
Type Color
Three paragraph displays in the same point size using three different leading values. This demonstrates how the typeface might work as body copy. It uses a special text wrapping which breaks words at the last character that will fit on 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 a consistent color comparison.
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. (See below for more about the sample text.)
Cap Height [Inches/Millimetres]
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 occassionally font sizes in the larger scales, the recommended sizes may be a point or two off.
Page Footer
As distributed this is the copyright and shareware notice line. In versions 2.04 and later one of two logos may be printed depending on the printer you are using. If you are using a 300dpi Quickdraw-based printer theTypeBook will use a bitmap version of the logo scaled to match the 300dpi resolution. Other printers will be sent a postscript version of the logo in place of the bitmap version. Other non-postscript/non-300dpi printers may be supported in future versions.
For a small fee I will create a customized version of the page footer using the 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 below.)
Technical features
When building the menu of available typefaces, theTypeBook gets all the names of all the available style options from every FOND that is installed. You must have at least one size installed for each style in order for theTypeBook to access that face. Not all font families support all of the standard styles.
The names are obtained from the style-suffix strings table contained in the FOND resource of a font. This has its pluses and minuses - You don't need a outline download file to print fonts which are otherwise installed in the printer (like an NTX or Linotronic), but you can select faces for which the outline file is "missing", for which results are terrible. theTypeBook eliminates duplicated names resulting from non-merged or partially merged font families.
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 Cap Height data is initially determined from the font ascent. This value is scaled to match the first size of the installed bitmaps. It is compared to samples taken from the bitmap for empty pixels at the top (affecting the printed height). If there are empty pixels the ascent value is adjusted appropriately. Finally the value is scaled to match the size needed for the Cap Height table.
If you select either of the metric measurement modes a slightly different set of characters will be used on the sample page. A few of the most popular European characters are added. Both of these are contained in string resources and can be independently configured when ordering or through ResEdit.
The "Print All Charaters" 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.
theTypeBook handles each typeface as an individual printing job. This has two advantages; it is not necessary to use the "Unlimited Downloadable Fonts" option, and if the printer is in a shared environment other printing jobs will be able to "slip-in" the printing queue. Both Multifinder background printing and SuperLaserSpool are supported.
When you access the "Suitcase" desk accessory the font list will be re-built 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.
When quitting theTypeBook, the current Page Setup and Measurements selections are saved. This will set-off some Virus detection utilties as the two storage resources are saved.
theTypeBook Registration
Customized versions are available in which the page footer is configured to your specifications. Both artwork and copy are used. You should provide some indication to the positioning of the elements. If not, I will use my own discretion.
Artwork should be in one of the following formats: Freehand (no EPS), Illustrator, PICT, or MacPaint. You should select a format that prints well on the printer you are using, or supply both a FH or ILL postscript and a PICT or MPNT file. MPNT files should be created at 400% for best results on 300dpi or higher printers. If you don't know how to create the MPNT version I can do that for you from the postscript version. Color is not currently supported. This artwork may be scaled in size to fit the available area. If you are using type as part of the artwork it is recommended that it be converted to outlines. When specifying artwork you must supply it on a 2DD 3.5" diskette.
Copy may be typewritten or optionally included on the disk with the artwork. It is also limited by the space available. Generally, 3 - 4 lines depending on the typesize specified. Remember the total vertical space is 32 pts including descenders.
When ordering, if you also include the "Color" sample copy I will install it as well. Versions 2.0 and later have a text editing window to permit entry and changing of the "Color" sample copy. A good character count is between 375 and 475 characters. Also you should use a good mix of caps and lower case (your typical writting style).
If you decide to take advantage of the freeware offer. Send a pre-formatted 3.5" 2DD disk and a Postage-Paid mailer. Note that incomplete requests in this catagory may be ignored for an undefined period of time.
The customization fee is $45 dollars. Upgrades are free upon request, including changes to any of your information in the page footer. Registered owners of prior versions should include a copy of theTypeBook application they have. This will facilitate duplication of their existing layout.
Jim Lewis - Golden State Graphics
2137 Candis Av.
Santa Ana, CA 92706
(714) 542-5518
CIS: 71650,2373
AOL: JimXLewis
Revision History
version 1.1
Initial release to the general public.
version 1.2
Incorporated Multifinder routines to support background printing.
version 1.21
Revised print routines to support Quickdraw Laser Printers and Apple ImageWriters.
version 1.22
Revised menu rebuild - Under Multifinder the menu was rebuilt the instant the Suitcase DA was selected - before any changes could be made. The menu is now rebuilt at the proper time - upon return to theTypeBook. Additionally the option-key was used when selecting Suitcase from the apple menu to prevent the menu rebuild, this has been changed to use the shift-key instead.
When the edit command "Select All" was issue theTypeBook attempted to select one cell beyond the end of the list. Now the exact number in the list is selected.
Added display of the number of selections made and the approx disk space needed if spooling. If not spooling, the number is still displayed.
version 1.23
Added layouts and support for Legal and A4 paper sizes.
Added detection of improper page size selection.
Added adjustment to approximate spool size for legal size page selection.
Added Character Set print option to file menu. Also accessable through option-click on print button or command-option-P keyboard equivalent. Displays all characters available as a single character. Two character combinations are not included.
version 1.24
Due to the implementation of different page sizes in version 1.23 it was discovered that different printer drivers interpretation of the selected page size is not consistent. Even within the same brands. This has been corrected by using a "window of values" that each selected page size must fall within. This issue has created the "Printer Page Info Utility" which is now distributed with theTypeBook in order for users to verify compatiblity.
version 1.25
Change to spool-a-page/print-a-page spooling used by some dot-matrix printers to improve compatibility. Also reorganized printer code to improve compatibitily.
Command-Option-P added to version 1.24 did not always invoke the Print Character Set as it was supposed to. This has been corrected.
The Print Character Set now takes advantage of the larger page size when printing to a legal size page. The table is expanded and the display point size increased.
Measurements menu added to provide selection between decimal and metric typesetting statistics. The current selection is saved when theTypeBook quits and is restored the next time it is launched. In Decimal/Picas mode the statistics are shown in Chars/Pica and Cap. Height in inches. In Metric/Ciceros mode they are shown in Chars/Cicero and millimeters.
The Measurements menu also affects the display characters. There are now two seperate sets of display characters, the orignal and a new one containing additional european characters. Both are contained in STR# resources and may be changed via ResEdit.
The current page size selected in the Page Setup dialog is now saved when theTypeBook quits and restored when it is launched.
Version 1.26
Corrects major bug that caused system bomb induced in version 1.25 when Print was clicked. Due to confused resource file selection. Also corrects minor bug that occurred after Print Character Set completed.
Version 1.27
Corrects bugs involving Multifinder induced in versions 1.25 and 1.26 due to over complication of resource file controls.
Version 1.28
Corrected bug which reported a -43 error at the end of printing when using a QuickDraw printer. This was the result of attempting to print the last spool file automatically generated a second time before exiting the printing loop.
Revised print status dialogs for improved reporting of the current status.
Removed SystemTask calls which remained in code after converting to the Multifinder compatible - WaitNextEvent calls.
Seperated menu items in the Measurements menu which were tied together. Picas, Ciceros, millimetres, and inches are now selected independently.
Version 1.29
Added optional 96 pt. display which replaces the Copyfit and CapHeight data on each page. It is selected by choosing "None" from the Measurements Menu. The current selection is saved when quitting theTypeBook application.
Added option to print All Characters to the File Menu. 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.
Added option to include an Icon or Scrapbook art (not to exceed 32 pts. high) in the Tag-Line area of each page. This must be supplied when originally registering theTypeBook.
Added option to include comments on each page. This is useful to include such things as the Manufacturer, Ailias for the Font Name, or any other information. It must be cleared or set via the "Comments" selection in the Measurements Menu. The information entered is NOT retained when theTypeBook quits.
Moved size and leading parameters for the color samples to an editable string resource (via ResEdit). It contains 12 strings representing 6 size/leading settings. The first 3 setting apply to both the Letter and A4 paper sizes. The last 3 apply only to Legal size for which 3 additional color samples are used.
Version 2.0
Added Text Editing window to facilitate changing the "Color Samples" copy.
Added Dialog to facilitate change the size and leading of the individual "Color Samples".
Version 2.01
Fix to correct an occasional system error when editing the Sample Copy on some systems. This also applies to Sample Specs dialog.
Improved printing compatibility, the print driver is now open only when necessary.
Fix to correct system freeze when the last typeface in the list is an unmerged style reference by multiple FOND resources.
Enhanced keyboard selection capabilities. Initial face selection can be made by typing the name (case is ignored). The selection process continues while you type unless you pause for two seconds or more. The up and down arrows have been activated to move or append the selection. To append, hold down the shift key while pressing either arrow. Note moving into currently selected cells will deselect them.
Version 2.02
The original loop limit on the number of postscript names which could be read in has, for all intents and purposes, been eliminated. The current sort allocation will support up to 4000 names. This can be raised as part of the customization process but you must be sure you have the available memory (and the desire).
More changes to building the list of typefaces to support the installation of a large number of un-merged fonts. Prior versions resulted in a system error 28 (stack-heap collision) for some installations.
Version 2.03
Page count was not updated when using the keyboard to select a typeface. This has been corrected.
Problem in looping through the selected typefaces has been corrected. Errors where induced which caused only every other selection to be printed. This also caused premature completion of the process.
The Set Comment Dialog would flicker if the was selected before the screen had completely redrawn. This has been corrected.
On some machines the Sample Specs Dialog was using the wrong font. This has been corrected. If the Monaco font is not available you will be notified when theTypeBook launches.
Corrected window update routines which caused bombs under system 7.0 in anything other than black & white mode. As of this version theTypeBook is compatible with 7.0b6.1 in all color modes and with TrueType under 6.0.7 when the complete character set is accounted for.
2.04
Alternate drawing the page logo has been incorporated into this version. If the currently selected printer is 300 dpi but not a LaserWriter a bitmapped image scaled down to match 300dpi resolution. The previous postscript logo is still supported and is used when a postscript LaserWriter is selected.
2.05
Revised window update routines (again) to correct display problems when a menu selection was made before the window had completely redrawn. Some of the modifications should eliminate system bombs experienced by a select number of users.
Revised About Dialog code for greater reliability.
Added a "Quit" button to the "Helvetica is missing" Alert. The "Quit" option is only available if Helvetica is missing when theTypeBook is launched. If you close down the suitcase containing Helvetica while theTypeBook is running you will receive an Alert without the option to immediately Quit.
Corrected the timing of the face list rebuilding when Suitcase is selected under System 7.0.
Added a default to use the Postscript Logo when an unknown printer is selected.
Added missing characters to the "Print All Characters" page which were previously considered as duplicates. This is not necessarily the case in all fonts however.
2.06
Finally tracked down bug which caused problems when printing to the HP DeskWriter. A variety of symptoms were reported all of which involved the conclusion of the print cycle.
2.07
Some characters of some typefaces were being omitted from the samples at smaller point sizes. The width values for the thinner characters such as 'i', 'l', and '1' are so small they would round-down to zero in some cases. The width of a character is no longer evaluated. Instead each character is simply checked for a positive value in the offset/width table of the font.
This also had a minor affect (±.02p) on the computation of the characters per pica (and cicero) table. One user cited a test of 3000 chars set at 10 pt in 20P columns. His test came up 3 lines short of his calculated length. The changes made will improve on the accuracy somewhat (because the values were so small in the first place). The key factor is really the copy used in the sample paragraphs. The mixture of Caps and lower case in addition to punctuation used all have an effect. For example: If you enter your sample copy in all caps with no spaces the char/pica table would reflect copy set in all caps with no spaces.
Cancelation of the printing process during the 'Preparing Page...' process was difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. Addition checks for the pressing of the command-period keys have been added to the routines. This makes cancelation during this process much easier.
2.1
Major TrueType fix. TrueType fonts seemed to work just fine under system 6.07 using the TrueType INIT but began to fail when system 7 was released. This failure would cause only a few characters to be printed at each point size. This has been corrected by the implementation of full TrueType support as descibed in volume 6 of Inside Macintosh.
Note: TrueType provides a number of options for modifying a typeface. These provide for horizontal and vertical scaling. In the menu list, this caused a slowing as many of the font names required horizontal scaling. It was necessary to deviate from the default system settings to produce the results I wanted. Specifically bitmapped Geneva is still used to draw the font menu list, this means the names will not be horizontally scaled to fit entirely in the list area. Characters which use diacritical marks are not scaled to occupy the same amount of vertical space as the normal character, instead the character shape is preserved and printed just the way it always has been.
The "Preparing Page" status dialog information has been revised to indicate 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.
2.2
Yet another TrueType fix - now supports just about any variation. In some variations it is not possible to intercept the printing of the missing character symbol. Usually a rectagular box will replace characters which have not been defined in a font in this case. Note that this can affect the speed at which a TrueType font is handled by the system.
New feature added: "Print Line Showings". This feature will combine the selected typefaces on a page (or pages) into a collection of two-line showings. This provides a much requested alternative/compliment to the complete main sample page. Mainly for creating an overview of your font collection the number of samples per page is controlled by the page size selected. You should enable "Unlimited Downloadable Fonts" before printing Line Showing pages.
"Line Showings Title" item has been added to the Measurements menu. It allows you to specify the title that appears at the upper-right of the page in Helvetica-Bold. This is useful when catagorizing your fonts. Some examples would be "Serif Fonts", "Shareware Fonts", "Cheltenham Family", or "Package #198". If you do not edit the Line Showing Title the default title "Line Showings" will be used. The "Comment Text" feature also applies to the Line Showing pages allowing you to further catagorize. ie. "Adobe Type-1", "Monotype", "Postscript", "TrueType", "Based on the original design", etc.
Added adjustments to image on page location when "Larger Print Area" is selected. There is no benefit to turning on Larger Print Area. Previously the image would shift up and to the left on the page.
A new logo has been added to the freeware version for the Apple StyleWriter printer's 360dpi resolution.
2.3
Fix to keycaps page. The clipping rectangle was reduced in size in order to ensure maximum speed out of the laserwriter. The right side border ended up clip off in the printed results. The appropriate correction has been made.
Changed the order of items in the Measurements menu. Line Showings Title was added to the end of the menu in version 2.2. It has been moved to the position immediately following Set Comments. This groups to two items together since they serve similar purposes.
A number of Command Key equivalents have been added as follows:
File Menu
Cmd-P Cmd-1 Prints Sample Page
Cmd-Shft-P Cmd-2 Prints Keycaps Page
Cmd-Shft-Opt-P Cmd-3 Prints Character Set Page
Cmd-Ctrl-P Cmd-4 Prints Line Showing Page
Cmd-Opt-P Opens Page Setup dialog
The File Menu has been changed to reflect the Cmd-1..4 sequences since they are a little easier to keep straight in one's mind.
Measurements Menu
Cmd-C Opens Set Comments Dialog
Cmd-L Opens Line Showings Title Dialog
Note that the Measurements menu is disabled and the Edit menu is enabled when the Edit Window is open. This changes the meaning of the Cmd-C key combination back to its standard text operation. When the Edit window is close Cmd-C again becomes the Set Comment Command.
Bug fix. The contents of the clipboard were preserved only when desk accessories were opened and closed. This has been expanded to include the launching and quiting of theTypeBook as well.
The list of font name is now sorted into order of ascending weight and width. Very much like Adobe Type Reunion without the hierarchial menus. Roman width fonts appear first start with the lightest face continuing to the blackest. These are followed by variations on width starting with the "thinest" to the most "extended" faces of the family. This provides two advantages: 1) Select fonts samples will be printed in order of weight eliminating the need to hand sort the finished pages. 2) Font samples on "Line Showing" pages will be printed in order from lightest to darkest.
Changed print status dialogs to reflect the currently entered line showing title. Previously the dialogs always had "Line Showings" whether an optional title had been entered or not. Now the optional-title is always used and defaults to "Line Showings" when theTypeBook is launched.
Handling of the Page Comment has been improved. Will automatically wrap to two lines up to a reasonable distance from the Page Title or have the page, whichever is less. A paragraph return will cause a line break. Comments are a maximum of two lines - roughly 160 characters.
The Set Comments dialog now supports Cut, Copy, Paste and Select All command key combinations. Command-Period (.) closes the dialog.
Command keys added to Sample Text window. Command-Period (.) closes the edit window without saving changes thereby canceling the edit if any. Command-w closes the edit window and prompts to save changes, if any. It is equivalent to clicking the close box.
Fixed problem with a variation of TrueType that used the fond resource only as a place holder for the name in font menus - even though it had 4 screen fonts?
