CICA 1992 November/CICA_MS_Windows_CD-ROM_Walnut_Creek_November_1992.iso/win3/fonts/atm/shalmold/about.old

Text File | 1992-10-02 | 12KB | 227 lines

ABOUT SHALOMOLDSTYLE (1.2)╔


Copyright & Distribution Information╔

ShalomOldStyle is copyright ⌐1990╨1992 by Jonathan Brecher. I made this
font. If you mess with it or claim it as your own, I╒m going to be very
upset. All rights reserved, and assorted other legal stuff.

ShalomOldStyle is distributed under a modified Shareware concept. I╒ve
devoted something approaching 100 hours to this font, including time spent
working on its original release as part of the font Shalom. I have tried my
utmost to produce a quality product, and I think I╒ve succeeded. In fact, I
have modified (dare I say improved on?) every single character in this font
since its last release in version 1.1.2. However, only you know how much
you use this font. At the least I would like a postcard of your home town,
but if you use it a lot, consider that other Shareware fonts commonly are
priced from $10-$25; commercial fonts can range upwards of $50-$100. I do
not believe in saying ╥Delete all copies of this font if you haven╒t paid
me in ten days╙; I would much rather you kept this font around in case you
ever did need it. However if you do find yourself using it... Any use of
this font in any product or publication that earns you money certainly
obligates you to some sort of payment to me. I do not feel obligated to
send updates to people who don╒t pay me. When writing, please be sure to
indicate that you are using Macintosh version 1.2, and please include a
full return address.

ShalomOldStyle was created with Fontographer 3.0.5 and revised with
Fontographer 3.5.1 on a Macintosh SE. It is a Type 1 font and works well
with Adobe Type Manager (ATM). It should work fine on any Mac, but if it
doesn╒t, it╒s not my fault. Versions are available for the IBM (Windows and
OS/2), for the NeXT, and in an assortment of flavors for use on UN*X
machines, at present, and may become available on other platforms in the
future. Please do NOT convert this font to any other format without my
permission: I have no objections in principle, but I want to ensure that
all copies of my font remain up to my standard of quality. No Warranties
and stuff like that, although I would be happy to help you trace down any
bugs. I am ALWAYS open to suggestions or (gasp!) criticism. Please contact
me at one of the addresses below.

Please give copies of this font to everyone, but MAKE SURE YOU INCLUDE ALL
RELATED FILES (ShaloOldSty, ShalomOldStyle.bmap, ShalomOldStyle Cheat
Sheet, ShalomOldStyle sample text, and this file)! It may not be sold
except by users╒ groups for duplicating fees, commercial services for
downloading time, etc. Commercial Shareware distribution companies (EduCorp
et. al.) please contact me.

Look also for my related fonts, ShalomStick and ShalomScript.
ShalomOldStyle and ShalomStick have EXACTLY the same character widths and
character mapping. ShalomScript, however, has some characters with
different widths and requires different vowels for some letters.

The widths of several characters (mainly punctuation) and the kerning
between many letter pairs were slightly changed for version 1.2. If you are
upgrading for an earlier version, you may have to check your line breaks
and spacing. Sorry.


I may be reached at:

Jonathan Brecher, 9 Skyview Road, Lexington, MA 02173-1112 USA
or
[e-mail] (Internet)
or
{husc6|uunet}!husc!brecher (UUCP)
or
[e-mail] (Bitnet)
or
[e-mail]@internet# (AppleLink)
or
>INTERNET:[e-mail] (CompuServe)

I also regularly call the BCSÑMac BBS (617-864-0712)

Installation instructions:

1) Put ShaloOldSty in your System Folder.

2) Install ShalomOldStyle.bmap with Font/DA Mover 3.8 or later (or use
Suitcase, etc.) as you would do with any other bitmap.

If you are using System 7, note that you don╒t have to use Font/DA Mover to
install the bitmap font, but ShaloOldSty MUST be at the root level of the
System Folder, not in the Extensions folder (unless you are using Suitcase,
in which case ShaloOldSty can be in the same folder as
ShalomOldStyle.bmap).


NOW FOR THE NEAT STUFF, or, WHAT THIS FONT IS ABOUT

ShalomOldStyle is a fairly complete Hebrew typeface. It is, however, just
another font as far as the Mac is concerned. The Macintosh running standard
American System software versions through 7.0.1 is not really set up for an
alphabet that reads from right to left. Anyone using this font will find
themselves composing Hebrew text ╥backwards,╙ or left to right. Sorry,
there╒s not a whole lot I can do about it╤yet. WorldScript, which may or
may not be released as part of System 7.1, and which may or may not be
released on October 19, 1992, and which may or may not be free, is rumored
to easily support right-to-left fonts. Such support may or may not require
new versions of your favorite word processor. I plan to offer right-to-left
versions of all of my Shalom fonts shortly after things are finalized with
WorldScript. Stay tuned╔

If you really need a Hebrew font that writes in the right direction, you
probably want something else (at least until System 7.1). You will NOT be
able to write a paper or probably even write a letter unless you get
software that allows you to type right to left. At the present time, there
are no public domain or Shareware Hebrew word processors. Try some
commercial places. A company called Davka (Davka Corp., 845 N. Michigan
Ave., Ste. 843, Chicago, IL 60611 [phone]) has received high praise
from others, but I know nothing about them personally. The Nisus word
processor can also handle Hebrew (Paragon Concepts Inc., 990 Highland
Drive, Suite 312, Solana Beach, Ca. 92075 U.S.A., [phone]), and
Apple makes a complete set of Hebrew System software (Apple Computer, APDA,
20525 Mariani Ave. M/S 33G, Cupertino, Ca. 95014 U.S.A., [phone] and
by anonymous ftp from ftp.apple.com).

IMPORTANT: ShalomOldStyle is a PostScript font designed to be printed on a
laser printer. The bitmapped screen font is passable in the size I╒ve
distributed (24) and pretty much illegible in other sizes. Often the vowels
will look strange even in these sizes. DO NOT WORRY. If you use a laser
printer, the screen font is irrelevant as long as the laser font is where
it belongs. The screen may be perfectly illegible, but the laser printout
should be okay. You really don╒t want to print this on an ImageWriter (at
least not without ATM). Considering that ATM is now (essentially) free from
Adobe, you have no excuse not to use it. ShalomStick is not available in
TrueType. If you want to hear me rant and rave against TrueType, drop me a
line.

KEYBOARD MAPPING

Because this font is not suitable for creating long Hebrew documents, I╒ve
decided not to use the ╥official╙ Hebrew keyboard mapping. (This may change
if I get many requests to do so, but so far I╒ve had few.) Instead, I╒ve
done my best to map the Hebrew alphabet to the qwerty keyboard. The aleph,
bet, gimel, daled, hay, vav, zayin, chet, yod, kaf, lamed, mem, nun,
samach, ayin, pey, qoph, resh, and tav are transliterated to the
a,b,g,d,h,v,z,c,y,k,l,m,n,s,i,p,q,r, and t respectively. The tet and tzadi
are on the e and x because I don╒t have a better place to put them. Final
forms of the kaf, mem, nun, pey, and tzadi are on the shifted equivalent
(K,M,N,P,X) The shin (without a dot) is on the w because the shape is
similar, while the shin and sin with dots are on the D and S, respectively.

Several exclusively Yiddish characters and combinations of characters are
also provided, but in general there is no logic to the placement of these
characters. A pasakh alef and a komets alef are on the A and Z keys. The
tsvey vovn and vov yud are on the B and G keys. A khirik yud, tsvey yudn,
and a pasakh tsvey yudn may be found on F, H, and u. All of these
characters except for the pasakh tsvey yudn may be produced with other
characters or combinations of characters, however, the double-character
keys have a slightly closer spacing between the pair.

The center dot (dagesh) for the bet, kaf, pey, etc. may be placed by typing
a < after (to the right of) the letter. The > key will also provide a
dagesh, but at a slightly different offset for nuns. A dagesh for the yud
may be produced with the f key.

The vowels are pretty much strung along the number keys:
1:    cheereek
2:    tzayray
3:    segol
4:    sh╒va
5:    koobootz
6:    chataf segol
7:    chataf patach
8:    chataf kamatz
9:    high sh╒va (9) and high kamatz (shift-9) both used only with final chaf
-:    patach
=:    kamatz

ShalomOldStyle characters come in one of three widths, and since Hebrew
likes its vowels centered under the letters, there must be three
corresponding sets of vowels. Most letters take the vowels produced by the
keys listed above (1,2,3, etc.). The narrow letters (gimel, vav, zayin,
yod, nun) use shifted numbers (!,@,#, etc.). The wide shin must use a third
set of vowels (Q,W,E, etc.) where the appropriate key is shifted down one
row on the keyboard and slightly to the right. In all cases the vowel must
be typed after (to the right of) the consonant under which it will go. Of
course, you are free to use only one set of vowels for all characters, but
it won╒t look as good.

For the techie types out there, the vowels all have zero width and negative
offset. This makes editing the vowels extremely difficult, but there really
was no other option. I could not produce the vowels like Apple does other
accents because any vowel must be able to accompany any consonant. Try
getting an n with an acute accent (used in some Eastern European
languages). It can╒t be done!

The vowels will not be visible with the KeyCaps desk accessory, PopChar, or
most other ways to view a font╒s complete character set. Sorry. This again
is a direct result of the vowels╒ negative offset and there╒s not really
anything I can do about it. If you plan on using this font, I STRONGLY
recommend printing out the cheat sheet that is distributed with it.

The above, of course, refers only to the vowels which go below consonants;
the cholam and shoorook may also be created. A full cholam may be produced
by typing an o, while a cholam without a vav may be produced with O
(shift-o). A shoorook may be created by typing V. All three of these
vowels, including the cholam without a vav, are treated as separate
characters in this font. They should all be typed BEFORE (to the left of)
the appropriate consonant.

There are, in addition, several other characters available. A high
connecting bar is produced with the tilde (~). An overbar, which is used in
Yiddish, may be produced with the ) key. The lowercase and capital j
produce short and long dashes, while the L key yields an ellipsis. The
grave (`) key produces a low (opening) single quote, the capital C key
yields a low (opening) single quote (or alternate comma), and the vertical
bar (|) will produce an exclamation point. The opening and closing brackets
will produce the appropriate parentheses. The locations of these characters
are the result of trying to fit as many things as possible into logical
locations on the keyboard. Inevitably, some do not end up on logical
positions. Oh, well.

The period, comma, semicolon, colon, slash, backslash, single quote, double
quote, and question mark are all in their expected locations.

If you plan on using the fonts supplied in ShalomOldStyle and your word
processor supports a ╥Smart Quotes,╙ ╥Curly Quotes,╙ or ╥Typographer╒s
Quotes╙ option, make sure it is turned off.

I hope you find this font useful.

MORE LEGALESE: All brand or product names are trademarks or registered
trademarks or their respective holders and are provided here solely in an
informational manner.