[comp.lang.postscript] Postscript font sample files

perry@ccssrv.UUCP (Perry Hutchison) (10/06/89)

In article <15066@netnews.upenn.edu> jeff@eniac.seas.upenn.edu
(Jeffrey M White) writes:

> are PD files available which when printed out on a Postscript
> laserprinter, will give you a real sample of that font ...  [in]
> a couple of different sizes, with bold, italic, outline, etc.

> I would like to be able to matchup a font [to an existing form]

> it may be difficult to provide a font sample document without actually
> providing the font itself

Since PostScript fonts are either outlines or stroke patterns, they are
inherently scalable.  A "sample" of all the characters in a font would in
fact be the font itself.

However, it would not be particularly difficult to provide sample fonts
containing, for example, only a few characters.  This would allow you to
see what it looked like at various sizes, without giving away the farm.

I don't know whether any font suppliers are actually doing this.

mcdonald@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu (10/08/89)

>Since PostScript fonts are either outlines or stroke patterns, they are
>inherently scalable.  A "sample" of all the characters in a font would in
>fact be the font itself.

Postscript fonts may also be bitmaps, which are scalable but look
ugly if scaled. They could distribute fonts at, say, 13.3 point
which few would want to copy. 

DougMcDonald