SeeFont is a short application written to take full advantage of TrueType in System 7.0. After spending 8 hours downloading System 7.0 and eagerly anticipating seeing Times at 500 pt I loaded it on my hard drive and started up Word 4.0. To my surprise I found that the 127 pt was the largest that Word 4.0 would go. I checked all of my drawing, painting, word processing files all of which gave me this ludicrous 127 pt barrier. So I set out with Think Pascal 3.0 TCL, and with a little help from the Dialog Class written by Thomas Engel, M.D. found in MacTutor Vol 7. No 6. I braved the world of 10,000 point plus!!! In addition, I found the string and type size displayed by Apple's font dialog box (arrived at by double-clicking on the font document) to be completely inadequate, especially for dingbat and icon fonts. Hence, 2 months later I have released SeeFont 1.0 into the public domain.
SeeFont 1.1 and 1.2 were written in Think Pascal 4.0 TCL. The Dialog Class mentioned above was replaced with Think's TCL 1.1 CDialog class. Three months, two incentive ware fees (thanks goes to Timothy Culp and John Mackintosh), and several bug reports and suggestions (thanks to Jim DeVries) later I have released SeeFont 1.1 and 1.2. Versions 1.0 and 1.2 are relatively bug free, so if you have version 1.1, discard it and look for 1.2. Version 1.2 should be the final version unless I need to fix some serious bugs.
SeeFont is simple to use. Just use the Font menu to control the size, style, color (for Mac II's) and type. Use the Display menu to control what is displayed in the window pane. Currently you have the choice of a single character, a string, or the alphabetic uppercase/lowercase set. To display a different character on the screen in the character display mode just type the key combination on the keyboard. Clicking the mouse in the window pane advances the character by 1. Clicking the mouse in the window pane while holding the command key decreases the character by 1. The same actions hold true for the Aa display, however you are only limited to the alphabet. The string display is self explanatory. I have included a print options dialogue that allows one to center the text on the page. Using my Imagewriter II on landscape mode and no gaps between pages I have printed some wicked awesome (Boston slang) looking banners.
<<Cursor Keys for navigation.>> Use the Preferences command in the File menu to activate the use of cursor keys to scroll through the character set, using the left and right arrow keys, and to scroll through the installed fonts, using the up and down arrow keys.
<<Changing Fonts via mouse.>> You can 'walk' down the installed fonts by holding down the option key while clicking in the content region of the window, and 'walk' up by holding down both the option and command key while clicking in the content region of the window.
<<Anitaliased text.>> A check box allows the user to set the Antialiased feature. This looks especially cool when in 16 grey scale or better mode on a Mac II series computer. For large strings and font sizes you may want to increase the memory partition to greater than 1 Meg in the Get Info box via the Finder. If memory gets tight you will notice that a 6 bit, 4 bit or 1 bit image will appear on your screen.
<<Bounding Box.>> A bounding box set for the maximum character width and height in the character set will be displayed when this box is checked in the preferences dialog box.
<<SeeFont Preferences File.>> This file should appear in the same directory as the SeeFont application. If a preferences file is not in the same directory then SeeFont will create a new one automatically. Choose the "Set Default" button in the preferences dialog box to save your settings. In addition to the settings shown in the dialog box, the Display mode, default string, the ascii slot for the character and Aa display mode is saved. SeeFont version 1.2.1 adds the option of turning on/off Color Quickdraw routines used in printing, for some reason using Color Quickdraw routines on some Mac models during printing has caused some crashes.
<<Go To ASCII Slot.>> Fairly self explanatory, saves you from having to click from 65 to 254.
SeeFont 1.X is a product of my own imagination. So please reward me accordingly. I ask no great fee, just $1 to $5, so that I can show my wife that there is someone just as crazy as me about 10,000 pt Times. Registered users can upgrade for free.
SeeFont 1.2 was tested on a Mac IIci with 5mg RAM, using System 7.0.0 and TrueType. Unlike past versions I have been unable to test SeeFont on a Mac Plus class computer since then my friend has moved away. If you have a Mac Plus class computer and it works (or doesn't) let me know. Since I am a recreational programmer I do not forsee the purchase or access to a Mac Plus class computer in the future. However, if you happen to have a Mac that is sitting in the closet gathering dust and would like to donate it to a worthy cause, give me a call or send me a line and maybe we can work out a deal.
Disclaimer: I will not be held responsible for damage (both mental and physical) caused by the use of this program. I am more than willing to listen to your bug reports and respond as quickly as I can.
Send your "incentive ware" fees and bug reports to:
