[comp.text] TeX, Changing font Styles in LaTeX

usenet@cps3xx.UUCP (Usenet file owner) (10/19/89)

How does one go about changing the default font style used by
TeX and or LaTeX? We would like to use the Helvetica font, resident
in the Apple LaserWriter. We would like to use it for the math,
formula, equation, etc., styles too.

John Mireley

langdon@lll-lcc.UUCP (Bruce Langdon) (10/19/89)

In article <5030@cps3xx.UUCP>, usenet@cps3xx.UUCP (Usenet file owner) writes:
> 
> How does one go about changing the default font style used by
> TeX and or LaTeX? We would like to use the Helvetica font, resident
> in the Apple LaserWriter. We would like to use it for the math,
> formula, equation, etc., styles too.

For some reason that is alien to my eye, people here do that. Serifs
are there to enhance readability, according to some people. 
But today my viewgraphs with their beautiful TeX mathematics were
transmogrified into tech-info-official Helvetica. Goodbye, all that is
known about readable and elegant math typesetting.
Your tax dollars at work.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
	Bruce Langdon  L-472                   langdon@lll-lcc.llnl.gov
	Physics Department                     14363%mfe.mfenet@nmfecc.llnl.gov
	Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory langdon@ocfmail.ocf.llnl.gov
	Livermore, CA 94550                 (415) 422-5444
UUCP: ..{qantel,ucdavis,pyramid,harvard,topaz}!lll-lcc!langdon

chris@mimsy.umd.edu (Chris Torek) (10/19/89)

>In article <5030@cps3xx.UUCP> usenet@cps3xx.UUCP (Usenet file owner) writes:
>>How does one go about changing the default font style used by
>>TeX and or LaTeX? We would like to use the Helvetica font, resident
>>in the Apple LaserWriter. We would like to use it for the math,
>>formula, equation, etc., styles too.

In article <2631@lll-lcc.UUCP> langdon@lll-lcc.UUCP (Bruce Langdon) writes:
>For some reason that is alien to my eye, people here do that. Serifs
>are there to enhance readability, according to some people. 

They are indeed.  Readability is largely a matter of familiarity.
Helvetica is traditionally used only for `headlines', with a serifed
font (such as Times or Modern) for running text.  Many people (including
myself) find running Helvetica text overly difficult to read---and as
with netnews, if the form is sufficiently bad in comparison to the
apparent content, I simply stop reading.

If you set the main body of your text in Helvetica, you may turn off
reviewers, etc.  If the goal is `resident in the Apple LaserWriter',
I say you would be better off with Times-Roman.  (Be sure to use at
least 11 point if the paper is going to be photocopied.)
-- 
`They were supposed to be green.'
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7163)
Domain:	chris@cs.umd.edu	Path:	uunet!mimsy!chris

amanda@intercon.com (Amanda Walker) (10/19/89)

In article <20257@mimsy.umd.edu>, chris@mimsy.umd.edu (Chris Torek) writes:
> They are indeed.  Readability is largely a matter of familiarity.
> 
> If you set the main body of your text in Helvetica, you may turn off
> reviewers, etc.  If the goal is `resident in the Apple LaserWriter',
> I say you would be better off with Times-Roman.  (Be sure to use at
> least 11 point if the paper is going to be photocopied.)
> -- 
> `They were supposed to be green.'
> In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7163)
> Domain:	chris@cs.umd.edu	Path:	uunet!mimsy!chris

True enough, unless you happen to be submitting a paper to a European
journal (Sans Serif typefaces are *much* more popular in Europe than in
the U.S.), or want to make it look like it came from CMU :-)...

--
Amanda Walker <amanda@intercon.com>

"Tobacco is the only drug in America that will kill you if it's taken
as directed." --Dr. C. Everett Koop, former U.S. Surgeon General