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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS);faqs.279 LP-2> In all tests I've seen the serifs have always won the day, but only with certain seriffed fonts, and fonts like Univers aren't far behind. The "tracking" advantage for serif fonts is reduced when you're talking about narrow newspaper/magazine columns. === JK> You wrote a pretty short and partial history of type. Why ignore the roots of type (blackletter) as well as the climax (moderns--give an explanation) and subsequent 'post-modern' revivals? LP-2> I was just talking about the place the 3 most common DTP types hold in the history of typography, and a few associated pitfalls. It wasn't meant as a "history of typography" at all. Please feel free to provide such a history yourself. JK> I think any short list of specific faces is incomplete without mention of Palatino, the most popular Old Style revival in existence. LP-2> Do you? To my mind Palatino is grossly overused. You must agree it looks bad for dense text. It isn't a proper "oldstyle revival" at all, more of a "calligraphic interpretation" of it. Zapf designed it as a display face, and wasn't too concerned about lining up the serifs (check out the "t"). And it just *has* to be printed on 1200dpi devices (at least) to look good in small sizes. OK then, maybe a short list is incomplete without a caution NOT to use Palatino... JK> Also, if this is meant to be a "quick history/user guide for those fairly new to using fonts on desktop publishing systems," then I would recommend more directions about the proper uses of certain faces (e.g., Goudy for shaped text, Peignot for display *only*) and styles (e.g., italics for editorial comments, all-caps for basically nothing). LP-2> Okay, okay. I was only sharing a few ideas, not trying to write a book. Surely you agree that the 3 typefaces I chose are by far the most commonly used and abused these days? I don't think a discussion of Goudy or Peignot fits in very well here, unless we're hoping to make a very wide-ranging FAQL. Regarding styles: first, italics are used principally for *emphasis* (rather than bold in running text); second, all good books have a few small caps here and there, don't they? - all mine do... JK> Sorry if I come across as critical. I think the idea of making a FAQL is a good one, as is your effort. We just have to make sure it doesn't give any newbies the wrong impressions and further perpetuate the typographical morass we're facing today. LP-2> Sorry if I come across as defensive, but I stand by what I said and object to the suggestion that I am "perpetuating the typographical morass". (I don't know if you really intended this - apologies if you didn't.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Don Hosek offers the following additional notes: The "Times" in most printers is actually a newer version of the font than Monotype's "Times New Roman" which it is originally based on. Walter Tracy's _Letters of Credit_ gives an excellent history of the face which was based on Plantin and in the original cutting has metrics matching the original face almost exactly. Another interesting note about the face is that it is almost a completely different design in the bold: this is due to the fact that old-styles are difficult to design as a bold. Incidentally, the classification of Times as a transitional is not firm. It likely is placed there by some type taxonomists (most notably Alexander Lawson) because of the bold and a few minor features. Others, myself included, think of it as a old style. The typeface listed in the Adobe catalog as Times Europa was a new face commissioned in 1974 to replace the old Times (whose 50th birthday was this past October 3rd). Hermann Zapf is not particularly pleased with any of the phototypesetting versions of Optima. As a lead face, Optima is very beautiful. His typeface "World", used in the World Book Encyclopedia is one recutting for photocomp which improves the font somewhat. He is on record as saying that if he had been asked, he would have designed a new font for the technology. -- END OF PART I -- Xref: bloom-picayune.mit.edu comp.fonts:6622 news.answers:4474 Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!enterpoop.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!micro-heart-of-gold.mit.edu!wupost!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!caen!nic.umass.edu!dime!dime.cs.umass.edu!walsh From: walsh@cs.umass.edu (Norman Walsh) Newsgroups: comp.fonts,news.answers Subject: comp.fonts FAQ.2.Mac-Info Summary: This posting answers frequently asked questions about fonts. It addresses both general font questions and questions that are specific to a particular platform. Message-ID: <WALSH.92Dec7141434@ibis.cs.umass.edu> Date: 7 Dec 92 19:14:34 GMT Expires: 8 Jan 93 00:00:00 GMT References: <9212071410.WW57338@cs.umass.EDU> Sender: news@dime.cs.umass.edu Reply-To: walsh@cs.umass.edu (Norm Walsh) Followup-To: poster Organization: Dept of Comp and Info Sci, Univ of Mass (Amherst) Lines: 288 Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu Archive-name: fonts-faq/part03 Version: 1.1.1. FAQ for comp.fonts: Chapter II: Macintosh-specific Info Version 1.1.1., Release 07DEC92 Welcome to the comp.fonts FAQ. These articles, posted monthly, describe many of the basic questions that seem to be repeated frequently on comp.fonts. Your comments are both welcome and encouraged. The FAQ is divided into chapters. The first chapter is a general overview. Most of the remaining chapters are more-or-less platform specific. For more information about the FAQ, please consult the beginning of the first chapter. The FAQ is always available via anonymous ftp from ibis.cs.umass.edu in /pub/norm/comp.fonts/FAQ* This chapter covers the following topics: 1. Mac font notes 1.1. Font formats 1.2. Frequently requested fonts 1.3. Commercial font sources 2. Font installation 3. Font utilities 4. Making outline fonts 5. Problems and possible solutions 6. Creating Mac screen fonts from Type 1 outlines ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Mac font notes 1.1. Font formats Postscript Type 1 fonts can be installed on the Macintosh only by using accompanying bitmapped fonts. Postscript Type 3 fonts are installed on the Macintosh in the same way that Type 1 fonts are. Truetype fonts: no bitmapped font is necessary with this type, though commonly used sizes are often supplied. Bitmap fonts: on the Macintosh, bitmap fonts also contain the kerning information for a font and must be installed with both type 1 and type 3 fonts. Their presence also speeds the display of commonly used font sizes. 1.2. Frequently requested fonts Many fonts are available at various archives. The king of Macintosh font archives is mac.archive.umich.edu. On mac.archive.umich.edu, the fonts are located in the following folders: /mac/system.extensions/font/type1 " /type3 " /truetype The following fonts are in Type 1 format for the Macintosh. Some are also available in TrueType format. Tamil Paladam, T. Govindram Hebrew ShalomScript, ShalomOldStyle, ShalomStick, Jonathan Brecher Japanese Shorai (Hirigana, with application) Star Trek StarTrekClassic, Star TrekClassicMovies, StarTrekTNGCrille, StarTrekTNG Titles, TNG monitors, StarFleet, Klinzai (Klingon font) Command-key Chicago (TrueType or bitmap, key: Ctrl-Q), Chicago Symbols symbol (Type3, key: 1), EncycloFont (Type3, key: d) Astrologic/ Hermetica (Type1), InternationalSymbols (Type 3, Mars and Astronomic Venus only), MortBats (Type3), Zodiac (bitmap) symbols Many of these mac fonts are available in files that are either entitled xxxx.sit or xxxx.cpt. xxxx.sit files are Stuffit archives. xxxx.cpt files are Compact Pro archives. StuffitLite (shareware $25) and Compact Pro (shareware $25) are available at the standard ftp sites. Uncompressors for these programs (free) are also available at the archive sites. Check the utilities/compression utilities folders. 1.3. Commercial font sources Commercial fonts can be obtained from a number of different companies, including the large font houses: Adobe, Font Haus, Font Company, Bitstream, and Monotype. At these companies, fonts cost about $40 for a single face, and must be purchased in packages. Adobe, Bitstream, and Monotype also sell pre-designated type collections for slightly lower prices. Image Club sells a wide selection of fonts for about $50 for a 4 font family. Other, cheaper companies sell fonts of lesser quality, including KeyFonts, which sells a set of 100 fonts for $50 and Cassady & Green's Fluent Laser Fonts, a set of 79 fonts for $99. Cassady & Greene also sells Cyrillic language fonts in Times, Bodoni, and Helvetica sell for about $40 for each 4 font family. Underground Phont Archive (Jason Osborne, V065HJKU@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu): is a distributor of shareware/freeware truetype fonts. Many of these fonts can also be obtained at the mac.archive.umich.edu archive site. Currently [ed: as of 7/92] 170 fonts, which are distributed for $35, +3 shipping for overseas orders. (Some fonts may have additional shareware fees). Foreign language fonts, ranging from Egyptian hieroglyphics to Cyrillic can be obtained from Ecological Linguistics. Please consult the vendor list for a more complete list of vendors. 2. Font Installation System 7 Install the fonts by opening the suitcase containing the bitmap file and dropping the fonts into your system suitcase, located inside your system folder. You will need to quit all other applications before doing this. For a TrueType font, the icon for the font will have several letters in it, instead of just one. Dropping it into your system suitcase will make all sizes of the font available. For Postscript type 1 fonts, you also need to place the printer font in the extensions folder in your system folder. If you are using ATM you need to place these fonts in the root level of your system folder (not inside another folder). Using Suitcase, a font management utility, you can avoid cluttering your system folder with printer fonts. You can make new suitcases of fonts (generally not needed, but used by those who use Suitcase) by using Font DA mover. It operates the same as in system 6, except that the most recent version must be used. System 6 Bitmap fonts can be installed using Font DA mover to move the fonts, located inside suitcases, into your system. You will need to restart your computer to make these fonts available. Printer fonts must be placed in the system folder, not inside any other folder. Truetype fonts can be used with system 6 if you get the Truetype init. Then the fonts can be installed in your system with Font DA mover. Suitcase can also be used under system 6. 3. Font utilities SUITCASE Suitcase is a nifty little system extension that lets you avoid having to install fonts into your system. In system 6, it means that you can avoid restarting your system every time you want to install a new font. In system 7, Suitcase lets you avoid quitting all applications before making fonts available. Some programs, like Quark Xpress will automatically update their font list when you open a new suitcase, allowing much more flexibility in opening and closing font suitcases and making different sets of fonts available. Suitcase appears in your Apple menu in both system 7 and 6 and allows you to open suitcases, as though they were files, thus making the fonts contained in them accessible to programs. In addition, when suitcase is installed, printer fonts can be stored with the bitmap suitcases they correspond to, instead of having to drop them into your system folder. The most recent version of Suitcase is compatible with TrueType. Suitcase is about $54 form the mail order places. MASTER JUGGLER Claims to do similar things ATM Adobe Type Manager is an Init and Control panel allows accurate screen display, at any size of Postscript type 1 fonts. It's function is replicated with Truetype (but for different outline font format). With it installed, you can print fonts of any size to non-postscript printers. When using ATM, printer fonts must either be stored with the bitmap files opened with suitcase (when using Suitcase), or they must be stored in the root level of the system folder. ATM is now available, with the System 7.0 upgrade, as well as directly from adobe with 4 Garamond fonts. It will supposedly be built into System 7.1. TTconverter A shareware accessory available at the usual archives will convert Truetype fonts for the IBM into Macintosh format. A variety of programs, for example, Font Harmony, etc. will allow you to change the names and ID numbers of your fonts. Fontmonger and Metamorphosis will let you convert fonts among several formats (type 1 and 3 and Truetype for the Mac and PC), as well as letting you extract the font outlines from the printer fonts. 4. Making outline fonts This is very, very difficult. Many people imagine that there are programs that will simply convert pictures into fonts for them. This is not the case; most fonts are painstakingly created by drawing curves that closely approximate the letterforms. In addition, special rules (which improve hinting, etc.) mandate that these curves be drawn in specific ways. Even designing, or merely digitizing, a simple font can take hundreds of hours. Given that, there are two major programs used for font design on the Macintosh, Fontographer ($280) and FontStudio ($400). These programs will allow you to import scanned images, and then trace them with drawing tools. The programs will then generate type 1, 3, TrueType and Bitmap fonts for either the Macintosh or the IBM PC. They will also generate automatic hinting. They also open previously constructed outline fonts, allowing them to be modified, or converted into another format. As far as I know, there are no shareware programs that allow you to generate outline fonts. 5. Problems and possible solutions 1) Another font mysteriously appears when you select a certain font for display. This is often the result of a font id conflict. All fonts on the Macintosh are assigned a font id, an integer value. When two fonts have the same id, some programs can become confused about the appropriate font to use. Microsoft word 4.0 used font id's to assign fonts, not their names. Since id's can be different on different computers, a word document's font could change when it was moved from one computer to another. Other signs of font id problems are inappropriate kerning or leading (the space between lines of text). Some font ID problems can be resolved by using Suitcase, which will reassign font ID's for you, as well as saving a font ID file that can be moved from computer to computer to keep the id's consistent. Font ID problems can also be solved with several type utilities, which will allow you to reassign font id's. Most newer programs refer to fonts correctly by name instead of id number, which should reduce the frequency of this problem. 2) When using a document written in MSWord 5.0, the font mysteriously changes when you switch from your computer at home to work, or vice versa. This is the result of a bug in MSWord 5.0. The MSWord 5.0 updater, which can be found at the info-mac archives at sumex (in the demo folder), will fix this bug. 6. Creating Mac screen fonts from Type 1 outlines A) Berthold K.P. Horn <bkph@ai.mit.edu> contributes the following solution. This is a commercial solution. A font manipulation package from Y&Y includes: AFMtoPFM, PFMtoAFM, AFMtoTFM, TFMtoAFM, AFMtoSCR, SCRtoAFM, TFMtoMET, PFBtoPFA, PFAtoPFB, MACtoPFA, PFBtoMAC, REENCODE, MODEX, DOWNLOAD, SERIAL, and some other stuff I forget. To convert PC Type 1 fonts to MacIntosh use PFBtoMAC on the outline font itself; then use AFMtoSCR to make the Mac `screen font' (repository of metric info). You may need to use PFMtoAFM to first make AFM file. To convert MacIntosh font to PC Type 1, use MACtoPFA, followed by PFAtoPFB. Then run SCRtoAFM on screen font to make AFM file. Finally, run AFMtoPFM to make Windows font metric file. Y&Y are the `TeX without BitMaps' people (see ad in TUGboat): Y&Y makes DVPSONE, DVIWindo, and fonts, for use with TeX mostly, in fully hinted Adobe Type 1 format. Y&Y, 106 Indian Hill, Carlisle MA 01741 USA (800) 742-4059 (508) 371-3286 (voice) (508) 371-2004 (fax) B) Mac Screen fonts can be constructed from outline fonts using Fontographer, as well. -- END OF PART II -- Xref: bloom-picayune.mit.edu comp.fonts:6624 news.answers:4476 Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!enterpoop.mit.edu!think.com!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!caen!nic.umass.edu!dime!dime.cs.umass.edu!walsh From: walsh@cs.umass.edu (Norman Walsh) Newsgroups: comp.fonts,news.answers Subject: comp.fonts FAQ.3.MS-DOS-Info Summary: This posting answers frequently asked questions about fonts. It addresses both general font questions and questions that are specific to a particular platform. Message-ID: <WALSH.92Dec7141536@ibis.cs.umass.edu> Date: 7 Dec 92 19:15:36 GMT Expires: 8 Jan 93 00:00:00 GMT References: <9212071410.WW57338@cs.umass.EDU> Sender: news@dime.cs.umass.edu Reply-To: walsh@cs.umass.edu (Norm Walsh) Followup-To: poster Organization: Dept of Comp and Info Sci, Univ of Mass (Amherst) Lines: 473 Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu Archive-name: fonts-faq/part04 Version: 1.1.1. FAQ for comp.fonts: Chapter III: MS-DOS-specific Info Version 1.1.1., Release 07DEC92 Welcome to the comp.fonts FAQ. These articles, posted monthly, describe many of the basic questions that seem to be repeated frequently on comp.fonts. Your comments are both welcome and encouraged. The FAQ is divided into chapters. The first chapter is a general overview. Most of the remaining chapters are more-or-less platform specific. For more information about the FAQ, please consult the beginning of the first chapter. The FAQ is always available via anonymous ftp from ibis.cs.umass.edu in /pub/norm/comp.fonts/FAQ* This chapter covers the following topics: 1. MS-DOS font notes 2. Font installation 3. Font utilities 4. Converting Macintosh Type1 fonts to MS-DOS format 5.1 Converting PC Type1 fonts into TeX PK bitmap fonts 5.2 Converting TeX PK bitmaps into HP LaserJet softfonts (and vice-versa) 5.3 Converting TrueType fonts to HP LaserJet bitmap softfonts (HACK!) 6. MS-DOS Screen Fonts (EGA/VGA text-mode fonts) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. MS-DOS font notes The easiest way to get outline fonts under MS-DOS is with MicroSoft Windows 3.x or OS/2 2.x. MicroSoft Windows 3.0 with Adobe Type Manager (ATM) and OS/2 2.0 support PostScript Type1 fonts. MicroSoft Windows 3.1 supports TrueType fonts natively. Bitmap fonts are available in a variety of formats: most formats are designed with the printer in mind and not the display since (prior to graphical environments like Windows, GEM, and OS/2) the majority of work under MS-DOS was done with a character-based interface. 1.2. Frequently requested fonts Many fonts are available at various archives. The biggest font archive for MS-DOS format fonts is ftp.cica.indiana.edu. Note: you can use any Mac format Type1 font on your PC by converting it to PC format with the free/shareware as described below. The following fonts are in Type 1 format for MS-DOS. Some are also available in TrueType format. Hebrew ShalomScript, ShalomOldStyle, ShalomStick Japanese Shorai Start Trek Crillee, TNG monitors 2. Font Installation If you have any information that you feel belongs in this section, it would be greatly appreciated. Windows Pat Farrell <pfarrell@cs.gmu.edu> contributes the following description of font installation under Windows. Installing Fonts into Windows: This only covers Windows 3.1. Font is a four-letter word in Windows versions prior to 3.1 due to the distinctions between screen fonts and printer fonts. The upgrade price of Windows 3.1 is justified by the integration of TrueType into the package and the inclusion of useful fonts for all printers. Commercial fonts usually have installation instructions with their manuals. The approach may differ from the method used for PD and shareware fonts. To install PD and shareware fonts in Windows 3.1: 1. Copy the fonts onto a suitable scratch area (i.e. a floppy, or any temporary area of your hard disk. 2. Execute "Control Panel" by double-clicking on the icon in the Windows Program Manager's "main" group. 3. Double-click on the Fonts icon. 4. Double-click on the "Add" button. 5. Select the scratch directory holding the new fonts. 6. A list of the fonts will be displayed. You can manually select the fonts you like, or you can use the "Select All" button. 7. Make sure the "Copy Fonts to Windows Directory" check-box is checked. This will copy the fonts from the scratch area to your Windows directory. 8. Click on the "Ok" button. Special notes for Windows applications: Word for Windows (W4W) stores font/printer information in its own initialization files. After you add new fonts, you have to tell W4W that the printer can use the new fonts. Do this by selecting "Printer Setup" from the W4W main "File" menu item, click on the "Setup" button, and then click on two "Ok" buttons to back out of the setup mode. Note concerning Windows 3.1 upgrade: There are two upgrade packages available from Microsoft for Win3.1. There is the standard version which contains TypeType support, and about six font families (Times New Roman, Arial, Courier, Symbols, Wingdings, etc.). It costs something like $50 (US). The second version contains a number of TrueType fonts that includes equivalents for the 35 standard Postscript fonts. This adds an additional $50, which is a pretty good value. However, if you plan on buying Microsoft's PowerPoint, it includes the same additional fonts/typefaces. So you can save money by not buying the fonts twice. More about Windows Q: Why are don't the TrueType fonts that come with Microsoft products (Word-for-Windows, PowerPoint, Windows 3.1 TrueType Font Pack, etc.) display and print properly on my system? A: The font matching algorithm in Win3.1 is fairly simplistic. If you install lots of TrueType fonts, the algorithm can get confused. In this case, "lots" is more than 50 or so. According to Luann Vodder who supports Microsoft Word on CompuServ: "There is a procedure which Windows must go through when an application requests a font. Each font contains a list of attributes such as Family, FaceName, Height, Width, Orientation, Weight, Pitch, etc. When an application requests a font, it fills out a logical font for Windows containing the necessary attributes, then starts going through a font mapping algorithm to determine which of the installed fonts most closely matches the requested (logical) font. Penalties are applied against fonts whose attributes do not match the logical font, until the fonts with the fewest penalties are determined. If there is a "tie", Windows may need to rely on the order of the fonts in the WIN.INI file to determine the "winner". If the fonts you want are in your WIN.INI file, and show up in Windows' Control Panel, then try moving them higher in your WIN.INI file with a file edittor such as SYSEDIT. Kesh Govinder <govinder@ph.und.ac.za> suggested the following warning: CAUTION: While many Windows 3.1 users would like to have many TrueType fonts at their disposal (and they are many available in the PD) a word of caution. A large number (>50) TT fonts will slow down your windows startup time. This occurs as every installed font is listed in the win.ini file, and Windows has to go through the entire file before starting up. While this may not affect most users, it will especially affect users of CorelDraw!, so be warned. Other Programs It is an unfortunate fact that almost all MS-DOS programs do things differently. Your best bet is to read the manual that comes with the program you want to use. 3. Font utilities PS2PK PS2PK allows you to convert PostScript Type1 fonts into bitmap fonts. The bitmap files produced are in TeX PK format. PKtoSFP PKtoSFP allows you to convert TeX PK fonts into HP LaserJet softfonts. PFBDir/PFBInfo PFBDir and PFBInfo format and display the "headers" in a binary Type1 font. 4. Converting Macintosh Type1 fonts to MS-DOS format Converting Macintosh Type1 fonts into PC Type1 fonts can be done using purely free/shareware tools. I've outlined the procedure below. Make sure you read the "readme" files that accompany many fonts. Some font authors specifically deny permission to do cross-platform conversions. THE TOOLS YOU NEED: ------------------- XBIN: xbin23.zip in /pub/msdos/mac on oak.oakland.edu (or other mirrors) UNSIT: unsit30.zip in /pub/msdos/mac on oak.oakland.edu UNCPT: ext-pc.zip in /pub/pc/win3/util on ftp.cica.indiana.edu REFONT: refont11.zip in /pub/pc/win3/fonts on ftp.cica.indiana.edu BMAP2AFM: bm2af01.zip in /pub/norm/mac-font-tools on ibis.cs.umass.edu XBIN converts Mac "BinHex"ed files back into binary format. BinHex is the Mac equivalent of UUencoding, it translates files into ascii characters so that mailers can send them around without difficulty. It also aids in cross platform copying too, I'm sure. BinHexed files generally have filenames of the form "xxx.yyy.HQX". UNSIT explodes "Stuffit" archives. Stuffit archives generally have filenames of the form "xxx.SIT". UNCPT explodes "Compactor" archives. The ext-pc implementation is called "extract" and does not require windows (even thought it's in the windows section on cica). Compactor archives generally have filenames of the form "xxx.CPT". REFONT converts Mac type1 fonts into PC type1 fonts. BMAP2AFM constructs AFM files from the metric information contained in Mac screen fonts (.bmap files). The screen font files do not have any standard name (although they frequently have the extension .bmap). The screen fonts have file type "FFIL" which, in combination with some common sense, is usually sufficient to identify them. I've listed the tools that I've used and the sites that are reasonable for me to retrieve them from. It's probably a good idea to check with archie for closer sites if you're not in North America. These tools run under MS-DOS. XBIN and UNSIT can also be run under Unix. HOW TO DO IT: ------------- Collect the Mac fonts from the archive or BBS of your choice. Most of these files will be in BinHexed format. As a running example, I'm going to use the imaginary font "Plugh.cpt.hqx". When I download this font to my PC, I would use the name "PLUGH.CPX". The actual name you use is immaterial. Run XBIN on PLUGH.CPX. This will produce PLUGH.DAT, PLUGH.INF, and PLUGH.RSR. The data fork of the Mac file (the .DAT file) is the only one of interest to us, you can delete the others. If the original file had been "Plugh.sit.hqx", we would be using the UNSIT program. Since I chose a .cpt file for this example, I'm going to run UNCPT.