It is suggested that this entire file be printed to "hard-copy" in the LetterGothic-EGG font, for easy evaluation. The MS Word version of this file - LetterGothic-EGG_Rel_Notes.wrd - will fit onto three pages, a compactness that was one of the font's original design goals.
1. Legalese:
The accompanying PostScript Type 1 and TrueType Macintosh versions* of the LetterGothic-EGG(c) font are *freeware*, distributed as is, without any warranties of any kind, either explicit or implied. Use at your own risk. Release of these fonts implies no ongoing support from anybody whatsoever.
These fonts are Copyright(c) 1994-95 EG&G Idaho, Inc., and may not be redistributed without the complete documentation and Release Notes (this file and the accompanying LetterGothic-EGG_Summary.txt). These fonts may not be sold or included in any for-profit distribution. Inclusion in any not-for-profit freeware or shareware collections requires the express consent of EG&G Idaho, Inc.
*NeXTStep PostScript and Windows Truetype versions *eventually* may be available at archives specific to those platforms.
2. Background:
This simple, Plain (Roman) version of Letter Gothic is intended to serve one purpose: To print text, such as from online sessions, that originally has been created on fixed-pitch (monospaced), Elite (12 characters per inch) platforms or devices, such as many Unix, IBM or Atari computers; and have the resulting output look more or less as though it had been produced on an IBM Selectric(R) typewriter. Period.
Why on Earth would one want to "have [laser-printed text] look more or less as though it had been produced on an IBM Selectric(R) typewriter"? Well, because to many eyes, this typeface produces copy that is considerably easier to read than either of the two monospaced offerings - Courier and Monaco - commonly available on the Macintosh. The former is built into Apple LaserWriter printers and their PostScript clones, and the latter is included in its TrueType variant with most new Apple computers.
Further, the two standard fonts track at a comparatively wide 10 characters per inch, thus producing many unwanted (short) line-wraps that would not have appeared in the originals. Also, the PostScript Courier font can look somewhat "anemic" and thin when compared to its counterparts on many PC laser printers, or even to Apple's own TrueType version when rasterized to a non-PostScript printer.
By contrast, LetterGothic-EGG's Plain (and only) face is also considerably bolder than the Adobe equivalent, which gives it more "color" - meaning, in part, that it looks "blacker" - on the printed page. (In fact, one commercial version of Letter Gothic [Roman] looks rather pale beside LetterGothic-EGG.)
Thus, LetterGothic-EGG is *not* a direct substitute for Adobe's Letter Gothic, although this may be more of a virtue than a defect. In contrast to the former, 12-point LetterGothic-EGG tracks at almost precisely 12 cpi (Elite), with 66 lines per 11-inch page, thus mimicking the Selectric fairly well.
Steve Strassmann adds: "...[S]ometimes you just need monospaced
fonts for artistic reasons. When you publish a book (either a
technical manual or fiction), you need to distinguish narrative
from examples. It has become a popular convention that monospaced
fonts indicate a 'computer voice,' meaning stuff that appears in
code or typed on a computer terminal.
"In a novel like 'Jurassic Park,' look for someone trying to break
into or talk to a computer. A font like Letter Gothic serves to
make you feel like you're looking over the character's shoulder
as they type. Of course, it doesn't matter that most computers
since the mid-80's have switched to proportional-width fonts -
it remains an artistic convention, and everyone immediately
understands it."
A caveat: Apparently due to an obscure "feature" in Fontographer, characters in this version of Letter Gothic sit some two pixels higher, relative to the baseline (at 300 dpi), than do characters in such Apple standards as Times and Palatino. Thus LetterGothic-EGG does not mix terribly well, on the same line, with other fonts. (If Altsys corrects this behavior in their program, a new version of the font will be uploaded.) For a similar reason (it would seem), the Mac PostScript font prints at a *slightly* heavier weight than does the TrueType incarnation, with the latter's hinting looking a bit inferior compared to the former's.
Also for similar, nebulous reasons, a few composite (mainly European) characters print with excessive weight, relative to the rest of the font, on the LaserWriter IINT. If this behavior is evident on other printers as well, please report it to the undersigned.
3. Changes to the original EG&G font (called EGGFont):
This editor's modifications to the original font consist of correcting some shape and dimensional non-conformities in the character outlines (a much bigger job than anticipated); hand-tuning the provided two bitmaps and adding third and fourth ones (a *horrendously* bigger job than expected, thanks mainly to limitations in the current Fontographer's bitmap editing capabilities); adding some 90 European "composite" characters for compatibility with non-US Selectric typewriters (another major task that was not planned *at all* in the beginning); and adding TrueType and cross-platform versions of the font (there still are likely to be "surprises" lurking in the latter). The character spacing and leading (line-spacing) basically are left alone.
This editor has incorporated some character enhancements (to # * + - =) suggested by Steve Strassmann of Apple Computer, and used bitmap and outline ID's *different* from those of the original font. The latter seems a safer alternative than risking ID conflicts on machines where both the old and the new versions are installed.
This *does* mean, however, that in documents specifying the one font, the other will not automatically be substituted if the original is missing from the machine (but this problem *should* be unique to EG&G Idaho). The font ID's are *not* registered with Apple or Adobe, so they conceivably *could* conflict with an existing or future font. That's the breaks.
*TrueType and cross-platform fonts have the same ID(s), for compatibility.
Bitmaps are included only for MacIntosh versions.
5. Why is there only a Plain (Roman) version?
Plain text files, particularly from online sessions, do not have literal representations of boldface, underline or italic characters; these can only be "simulated" by various character conventions.* Likewise, the IBM Selectric has these same basic limitations, except that it *can* do underlining using the standard two-step typewriter process. Accordingly, LetterGothic-EGG has an underline character.
The Selectric also has a comparatively limited (US) character set, and so did LetterGothic-EGG - at least initially.**
Here is most of the character set, for comparison and evaluation (not all characters may display in a strictly text version of this file; convert all characters to LetterGothic-EGG to display them correctly):
Note: Since the NeXTStep PostScript Type 1 version of LetterGothic-EGG has characters mapped to the keyboard according to "Adobe Standard Encoding," as recommended by Altsys, some of the above character table will not display correctly on the NeXTStep.
*Steve Strassmann responds: "Yes, but nevertheless it's enormously
helpful to have [the other variants]. When I write technical
documentation, describing an interactive session, I prefer to
use Plain for stuff the computer types (prompts and responses),
Bold for stuff the user types (commands and input), and Italic
for comments.
This way you can read [such things as tutorials] more clearly.
For my own use at least, having at least a bold in addition to a
plain version is pretty essential."
To which this writer says: LetterGothic-EGG is *freeware*! If you need more face variants, go out and buy one of the commercial versions discussed in the accompanying file, LetterGothic-EGG_Summary.txt, (which is exactly what Steve has done). Ditto if you need more characters. (If there are *important* lower-ASCII characters missing from this font, a request to the person whose name appears below may or may not get any results; it's worth a try, though - see below.)
Software "bolding" and "italicization" (really, *slanting*), from within a program such as MS Word, both work fairly well on the Plain version of the font.
**Christian Buser says: "[Having] no European letters (Umlauts,
Accented vowels etc.) [is a problem]. These _were_ on the IBM
typewriters sold here, and it makes a font really unusable if
they're not included."
Again, the primary intent of publishing this font is for use in printing text from terminal sessions, which has a comparatively limited ASCII character set. However, most of the common European characters have been added as a result of Mr. Buser's recommendations.
Comments, bug reports and other suggestions are also welcome.
6. Other:
These files were scanned for viruses by SAM 3.5 (12-16-94 Definitions).
Reply to:
Traci J. Ingram
tingram@services.dese.state.mo.us | or | 101-8673@MCIMail.com
