ASCII Chart (AC) is a tool that makes it easy to see all characters in a font at a glance, display a character’s ordinal value and what it considers the best way to generate it, copy specific character(s) to the clipboard, and send font samples to a file or printer. Note that while characters from the selected font are displayed on the chart, Geneva is used for character information on the right side of the window.
Installation:
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System 6.0.x users (or those using earlier systems) may install AC into their System file using the Font/DA Mover or open it with a utility like Suitcase II or Master Juggler.
System 7 users should open the suitcase file and drag AC out of it. AC may then be placed into the Apple Menu folder or System file, or used as a “double-clickable” application. The suitcase file can be trashed once AC has been dragged out of it. System 7.0 should display a cool, custom icon for AC. If it uses a generic icon, you may need to change AC’s file Type to “dfil” and file Creator to “ASC4” using ResEdit, DiskTop, Vantage, McSink, or any other utility capable of altering “Finder Information.” Then rebuild the desktop (and lose “Get Info” comments…) or try copying AC to another disk, delete the original, and then copy back.
Basic Usage:
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Choosing the “ASCII Chart” from the Apple menu causes a window to be opened and adds the “Chart” menu to the menu bar. This menu contains three hierarchical menus, and the names of currently installed fonts. The window is filled with a chart displaying all 256 chars or a font sample, depending on what was in use the last time AC was used.
Type a character, click on a character’s cell, or paste up to 512 characters from the clipboard. Option-click on a character to copy it to the clipboard or use the standard cut/copy commands to copy the currently selected character. Hold down the shift key when cutting/copying to append a character to existing clipboard text.
Pasting more than one character causes each character to highlight in sequence. Click the mouse or press a key after a paste to abort this display. Hold down the shift key during a paste to speed the display.
Press the command key to display the currently selected character at 72 point; depress the caps lock key to show the base line.
Click on the right side of the window (not on the chart) to display basic usage info; shift-click to see the info displayed in the selected font and size. Click in the zoom box when the chart is shown to resize the window to show/hide the character information area on the right.
Hold down the shift, command, or option key when clicking in the zoom box to move the window to the upper left of the main window.
Menu Items:
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Choose a font’s name in the Chart menu to cause that font to be displayed. Press command-plus to choose the next font in the menu or command-minus for the previous font; add the shift key to choose the last or first font.
The “Size” hierarchical menu is used to change the displayed font size of the chart. The window will be resized to accomodate the chosen font, size, and style.
Hold down the shift key when choosing a “Size” menu item to display a window that allows the menu item to be changed. Use the number keys on the numeric keypad when using the command key equivalents with a shift key, instead of the number keys along the top of the keyboard.
Choose the “Sample” menu item to replace the chart window with a font sample in a resizeable, scrollable window. The sample text is defined in the preferences window by choosing the “Window” item in the “Sample” popup menu. The currently defined size for the sample text is shown in brackets in the “Sample” menu item. Style and font may be adjusted dynamically using the appropriate menu items. Choose one of the other items from the “Size” hierarchical menu to redisplay the chart.
Choose the “Sample” menu item with the shift key down to display a window that allows the font sample size to be changed “on the fly.” The sample window text can only be adjusted in the preferences window.
Double-click in the chart or in the text area of the sample window to display a window containing more information on the current font. This includes the font name, location, type, and ID (some programs still only save a font’s ID in their files), as well as the number of defined characters, sizes of installed bitmaps, printer font file names (N/A for bitmapped fonts), and various character measures (in screen pixels) for the current font, size, and style.
The “Style” hierarchical menu is used to change the displayed font style. The size of the window will change to fit the size and style of the chosen font.
The “Output” hierarchical menu is used to output font samples and control various options and preferences.
Choose the “Page Setup…” menu item to display the standard Page Setup window. The Page Setup is saved between sessions if the “Save Page Setup” checkbox in the preferences window is selected. The “Print Samples…”, “Print Spec Sheet…”, “Print Character Chart…”, “Print Font Census…”, and “Print Registration Form…” menu items display the standard print dialog. Multiple copies and page ranges are supported.
Samples include up to five samples of the selected font as defined in the preferences window, described below. It uses as many pages as required by the samples or as specified in the page range.
The Font Spec Sheet has three pages. The first page contains one-line samples of the selected font at 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 18, and 24 point, in plain, bold, italic, and bold-italic styles. The second page contains justified samples in plain, bold, italic, and bold-italic styles in 10/10, 10/12, and 10/14 point leading. The third page is a mixture of one-line samples in plain style and justified samples in plain, bold, italic, and bold-italic styles. Justified samples use a non-standard means of determining line breaks to provide for even “color.” Because multiple styles are used, some printers may be unable to print Font Spec Sheets for complex fonts, or may image them very slowly. Adjust the page range to print specific pages.
The Character Chart is a table similar to the one displayed by the DA. Character size is scaled downward from 24 point until the largest character fits within the grid. Only one page is required. The decimal value of each character is, optionally, drawn in the corner of each character’s cell using the font specified by the “Title font” popup menu in the preferences window, described below. Characters with no corresponding bitmap (they use the “missing character” symbol) will have their cells filled with a gray pattern if the “Indicate Undefined” checkbox in the preferences window is selected.
If the shift key is down when a font printing menu item is chosen, a window is displayed that allows multiple fonts to be selected for printing. The currently selected font will already be selected. Shift-click or command-click to select or deselect font names. Enter the first few characters of a font’s name to select and auto-scroll to the closest matching font. Page ranges apply to all the selected fonts.
The Font Census is a tabular list of information about the installed fonts. This includes the font name, location, type, and ID (some programs still only save a font’s ID in their files), as well as the number of defined characters, sizes of installed bitmaps, and printer font file names (N/A for bitmapped fonts) for plain, bold, italic, and bolditalic styles. It uses as many pages as required by the samples or as specified in the page range. Fonts installed in the System file may be excluded from this list if so specified in the preferences window, described below.
Choose the “Chart to PICT file…” menu item to save the Character Chart as a PICT File. The PICT file Character Chart is identical with that produced by printing. It contains several grouped elements and may be read by any program that understands PICT files.
Choose the “Census to TEXT file…” menu item to save the Font Census as a tab delimited TEXT file which may be read by any program that understands TEXT files.
Choose the “Preferences…” item to display a window in which various program options are adjusted. Use the “Chart Window Display” checkboxes to control how much information to display about the currently selected character. The “Swap H&V” checkbox controls the chart orientation for both the Chart Window and Character Chart output.
Select the “Prefer TrueType™” checkbox to have TrueType fonts be used (if available) for the current font/size/style. Select the “Draw Offscreen” checkbox to have the chart drawn offscreen and then copied in the window. This looks nicer, but requires more memory and obscures the chart drawing progress. Offscreen drawing won’t be done if sufficient memory is not available. Select the “Save Page Setup” checkbox to save the printer page setup. Select the “Indicate Undefined” checkbox to have cells of characters with no corresponding bitmap filled with a gray pattern in character charts.
The “Title Font” popup menu controls the font used by the registration form and Sample, Spec Sheet, and Character Chart titles; the “Title Size” popup menu controls the size. Since the “Use Selected Font” option matches the titles to the font being output, use of an alternate font may be desired when generating samples of intricate or iconic fonts.
The “Sample” popup menu controls the specific sample to which the “Display” popup menu and “Size” item apply. The Sample Window and all five samples for the Font Sample may be adjusted by choosing the appropriate entry in the Sample popup. Choose “None” from the “Display” popup menu to prevent a sample set from being output. The “Character List” is a listing of each character in decimal order. Sizes must be in the range 6-144 point.
The “Sample Text” may be up to 255 characters in length. The total number of characters in the sample text field is displayed to the left of the field. This text will be case adjusted for certain fonts. That is, if the selected font has not defined characters a-z, the text will be forced to upper case; if A-Z are not defined, the text will be forced to lower case; if a-z AND A-Z are not defined, the character list will be used for the sample text.
Select the “Chart Values” checkbox to have the decimal value of each character displayed in the corner of each character’s cell in the Character Chart. Select the “Include System Fonts in Census” checkbox to incorporate fonts that are stored in the System file in Font Censuses.
The “TEXT” and “PICT” file creator fields contain signatures that will be applied to TEXT or PICT files created by AC. The file creator is used by the Finder to decide which application should be opened when the file is opened from the Finder.
Choose the “Print Registration Form…” menu item to print a registration form that may be filled out and returned with any payments or comments regarding this program. The “Title font” popup menu in the preferences window controls which font is used.
Misc:
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Only characters that have a corresponding bitmap (do not display the “missing character” symbol) will be output for all but the Character Charts.
Font names are output as they appear in the Chart and most Font menus; “true” PostScript names ARE NOT USED. Similarly, the selected font is considered the base font; styles (bold, italic, etc.) are applied to the base font, which may cause some unexpected results on PostScript printers, as some “styled” fonts may be printed in plain style.
A single font can contain any combination of TrueType, PostScript, or Bitmap formats. The font type shown in the Font Census reports and the font information window reflects the first format found in a TrueType, then PostScript, then Bitmap search.
I have purposely tried to keep the design of all output simple but useful. Most are “self-adjusting” to allow for various page sizes and orientations as well as unusual fonts. It’s an impossible task to create a format that won’t “break” with some font, but it’s my hope that these formats will work with most.
The current position and size of the window, font, size, style, and the current window type is saved when the window is closed.
Some fonts (especially those drawn by ATM or TrueType for the first time) may take quite some time to be fully rendered. Press the escape key or command-period when the font chart is being drawn to interrupt the drawing and cause only those characters rendered to be shown on the chart. Drawing cannot be interrupted for the sample window. Printing or saving to a file may also be aborted by pressing the escape key or command-period.
Some sizes will cause the chart window to become larger than the screen. Use a smaller size, or a larger monitor.
Some very complex fonts (I only know of three) may cause AC to bomb when Adobe Type Manager (ATM) draws the chart. If one of these troublesome fonts is saved as the last font used, thus causing a bomb every time AC is opened, try disabling ATM or deinstalling the offending font and then open again. AC won’t be able to find the previous font and will open with 12 pt. Chicago selected. You may then reinstall the font. Fonts which exhibit this behavior should still be printable by selecting them from the batch print window.
This DA should work on any Mac, provided there is sufficient memory available. If it’s used on an older Mac that doesn’t support hierarchical menus, no hierarchical menus will be available and the font chart will default to 12 pt., plain. The Sample Window will be available, but will display the Character List. Additionally, on some older Macs the resources used to find the keys to press to generate a character may not be available. On these Macs, the DA will not suggest keys to press.
This software is SHAREWARE. Single copy registration is $10. Site licenses, which allow for an unlimited number of copies to be used at a single location, are available for $75. As before, BBS operators may use this version free of charge.
I can be reached at the following electronic addresses.
COMPUSERVE: 70167,3444
GENIE: JPWIND
MCI MAIL: J.WIND
AMERICA ONLINE: JWIND
If you want to send me money or don’t mind the delay, here’s my mailing address.
Jon Wind
2374 Hillwood Drive
Maplewood, MN 55119
New in 4.2:
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1. Two more chart sizes and size menu item editing
2. Auto-resizing of chart window to fit chosen font size and style
