[comp.sys.mac] Need Screen Font

charlyn@felix.UUCP (Charlyn Johnson) (01/11/89)

I'm using PageMaker with a large screen. I can't read my 10 point Times
text very easily in Actual Size or Fit in Window modes (which are the
same) because the type is too small. The next larger display mode is 200%,
but this displays 20 point Times for which I have no screen font. I've
tried to call Adobe but their phone just rings and rings or I get put
on permanent musical hold. Does anyone know how I can get my hands on
a 20 point Times screen font? It would be really handy to be able to
edit in 200% mode, but I can't stand staring at the choppy, jaggy letters
that appear without the screen font.

chuq%plaid@Sun.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) (01/12/89)

>same) because the type is too small. The next larger display mode is 200%,
>but this displays 20 point Times for which I have no screen font.

There is a program out called FontSizer (about $80 at Macconnection and
computerware) that will let you create any size bitmap for any font you
want, which can then be installed in your system file for use. Sounds like
it's just what the doctor ordered. 


Chuq Von Rospach	Editor/Publisher, OtherRealms		chuq@sun.COM
       And now a message for the eyes of only those people with
       Commander Chuqui Secret Decoder Rings:
       7-3-6-27-24-4-10-6-27-3-2-23-27-23-10-7-27-3-24-24-4-20-11-7-24

drc@claris.com (Dennis Cohen) (01/12/89)

In article <84847@sun.uucp> chuq@sun.UUCP (Chuq Von Rospach) writes:
>There is a program out called FontSizer (about $80 at Macconnection and
>computerware) that will let you create any size bitmap for any font you
>want, which can then be installed in your system file for use. Sounds like
>it's just what the doctor ordered. 
>

Slight correction to the above.  It will allow you to create virtually any
size bitmap for any font for which it can find the PostScript description in
the LaserWriter you point it at.  So, you would have to download the font to
the LaserWriter first before you could run FontSizer on it.  I do agree with
Chuq though that it is an excellent product, just not that it is quite the
panacea that he implied.

Dennis Cohen
Claris Corp.
------------
Disclaimer:  Any opinions expressed above are _MINE_!

briand@tekig4.TEK.COM (Brian Diehm) (01/13/89)

In article <84847@sun.uucp> chuq@sun.UUCP (Chuq Von Rospach) writes:
>There is a program out called FontSizer (about $80 at Macconnection and
>computerware) that will let you create any size bitmap for any font you
>want, which can then be installed in your system file for use. Sounds like
>it's just what the doctor ordered. 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it is my understanding that FontSizer will only
work on non-Adobe PostScript fonts. Adobe really protects the outline shapes
of their fonts, and there really isn't a way to get to them. FontSizer takes
its original data from the PostScript font, so in the case of Adobe you're
out of luck. (Adobe also protects their "hints," the small corrections that
maintain print quality at small type sizes. It is the "hints" that is the cause
of many peoples' conviction that Adobe has the best quality fonts. Apparently
the hints are implemented using PostScript commands that are not publicly docu-
mented. Other type foundries like CompuGraphic and BitStream have their own
equivalents of hints.)

FontSizer, I understand, DOES work on 3rd-party generated PostScript fonts,
which in almost all cases are generated using Altsys Fontographer. So if you
have Casady or someone else's PostScript font, FontSizer will do the job.

Am I wrong in this information? WILL FontSizer operate on Adobe fonts? If it
does, I'm buying one yesterday; the Adobe restriction has been stopping me
till now.

-- 
-Brian Diehm     (SDA - Standard Disclaimers Apply)
Tektronix, Inc.
briand@tekig4.TEK.COM   or  {decvax,cae780,uw-beaver}!tektronix!tekig4!briand  

jackd@copper.SDP.TEK.COM (Jack Decker) (01/14/89)

In article <84847@sun.uucp> chuq@sun.UUCP (Chuq Von Rospach) writes:
>
>There is a program out called FontSizer (about $80 at Macconnection and
>computerware) that will let you create any size bitmap for any font you
>want, which can then be installed in your system file for use.
>
Unfortunately, it is not quite this simple. First, FontSizer will not let you
create a screen font in a size smaller than 12 points.  Also, you must have
the necessary font files to download the font to a LaserWriter in
order for it to work.  If these are not sticking points, FontSizer
should do the trick.

jack decker