[comp.sys.mac] The Overbar in the Symbol font

ijlustig@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Irvin Lustig) (05/23/88)

I just discovered the following:  When using the Symbol font, if
you type an Option-<left quote> (i.e., the key next to the '1'
on the Mac Plus keyboard), you get an overbar followed by the next
character typed (for most of the characters).  On the screen,
this looks like two characters, but when printed (from either
MacWrite 4.6 or WriteNow 1.07), you get a bar over the character.
Is this a problem with the representation of the Symbol font in
the System file?  Can this feature of the Symbol font be extended to
other fonts?  (i.e., it would be nice to be able to overbar an x or a y)

	-Irv Lustig
	Assistant Professor
	Dept. of Civil Engineering and Operations Research
	Princeton University
	irv%basie@princeton.edu

dm2w+@andrew.cmu.edu (Douglas Bradley Meade) (05/24/88)

In response to  message <2993@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> :

>       I just discovered the following:  When using the Symbol font, if
>       you type an Option-<left quote> (i.e., the key next to the '1'
>       on the Mac Plus keyboard), you get an overbar followed by the next
>       character typed (for most of the characters).  On the screen,
>       this looks like two characters, but when printed (from either
>       MacWrite 4.6 or WriteNow 1.07), you get a bar over the character.
>       Is this a problem with the representation of the Symbol font in
>       the System file?  Can this feature of the Symbol font be extended to
>       other fonts?  (i.e., it would be nice to be able to overbar an x or a y)

I have been playing with this a little and here are my findings:

1.  This will work on a LaserWriter, but not on a AppleTalk ImageWriter II.

2.  You can overbar a character in a font other than Symbol as follows:

        * change to Symbol font
        * type Option-<left quote> followed by the character to be "overbarred"
        * change the character to be "overbarred" to the desired font

        Exercise: Overbars for vowels and letters with diacritical marks do
require a little extra effort.

3.  In WriteNow the overbar can be raised/lowered in one point increments by
using the superscript/subscript styles.

4.  The overbar may NOT be the same width as the base character in proportional
fonts.

        Problem:  How can you overbar a sequence of letters with a continuous
overbar?
Please inform me of your solutions to the problem, and other interesting
findings.

Doug Meade
dm2w+@cmu.andrew.edu

jdm@ut-emx.UUCP (Jim Meiss) (05/28/88)

In my once favorite Mathematical word processing font, "Princeton"
there were a number of zero width characters, overbars, dots and carots,
so that you could make appropriate symbols. These work quite well, and
even display properly on the Mac screen.

Unfortunately there is something strange about Princeton font: it can't
be installed using the newer versions of the Font/DA mover.
If you do install it, it sometimes causes crashes for example in
Cricket Draw (even version 1.1). I never could figure out whats 
strange obout this font....(It does have a FOND resouce, though
all entries are zero...).

									
				Jim Meiss				
		 		jdm@emx.utexas.edu
				jdm%uta.MFENET@nmfecc.ARPA
									
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

mesard@bbn.com (Wayne Mesard) (06/01/88)

From article <2808@ut-emx.UUCP>, by jdm@ut-emx.UUCP (Jim Meiss):
> In my once favorite Mathematical word processing font, "Princeton"
> there were a number of zero width characters, overbars, dots and carots,
...
> If you do install it, it sometimes causes crashes for example in
> Cricket Draw (even version 1.1). I never could figure out whats 
> strange obout this font....(It does have a FOND resouce, though
> all entries are zero...).

Maybe somebody's dividing something by the character's width and causing
a division by zero glitch.  Just guessing.  Seems unlikely, but, hey, so
do Speed Racer lunch boxes.



-- 
unsigned *Wayne_Mesard();        MESARD@BBN.COM        BBN Labs, Cambridge, MA

"Republicans know they're not smart.
 What they do is try to get attention."
                                        -Mass. Senate President William Bulger.