robertk@rkrajewski.lotus.com (Robert Krajewski) (06/12/91)
In article <1991Jun7.101930.28539@athena.cs.uga.edu> fore@athena.cs.uga.edu (Howard Fore) writes:
Then the laser fonts were divided further into one each for Bold,
Italic, Bold Italic, and Roman (Book) faces. Now there is TrueType and Adobe's
latest creation, Multiple Master (is this really any good?). Adobe fixed some
of the problem with their TypeReunion (a truely awesome INIT, oops, system
extension).
As soon as you buy the Adobe Plus Pack, you're going to run into font
menu clutter. Adobe will happily sell you Type Reunion, which pretty
much does what it's supposed to, but it can't work on font menus that
appear as list boxes, or use other non-standard presentations.
The real solution is to fix the problem at its source. There is a way
to unify the description of a Macintosh Type 1 font so that the family
variations do not appear in the enumerated list of fonts to begin
with. Some vendors unify their fonts in this manner, but Adobe
doesn't. I have Gill Sans and Perpetua from Monotype; the former is
not unified but the latter is.
Anyway, I would be very grateful if there was a utility out there that
performed this unification once and for all. Do such a beast exist ?lim@iris.ucdavis.edu (Lloyd Lim) (06/13/91)
In article <ROBERTK.91Jun11120100@rkrajewski.lotus.com> robertk@rkrajewski.lotus.com (Robert Krajewski) writes: >In article <1991Jun7.101930.28539@athena.cs.uga.edu> fore@athena.cs.uga.edu (Howard Fore) writes: > > Then the laser fonts were divided further into one each for Bold, > Italic, Bold Italic, and Roman (Book) faces. Now there is TrueType and Adobe's > latest creation, Multiple Master (is this really any good?). Adobe fixed some > of the problem with their TypeReunion (a truely awesome INIT, oops, system > extension). > >As soon as you buy the Adobe Plus Pack, you're going to run into font >menu clutter. Adobe will happily sell you Type Reunion, which pretty >much does what it's supposed to, but it can't work on font menus that >appear as list boxes, or use other non-standard presentations. > >The real solution is to fix the problem at its source. There is a way >to unify the description of a Macintosh Type 1 font so that the family >variations do not appear in the enumerated list of fonts to begin >with. Some vendors unify their fonts in this manner, but Adobe >doesn't. I have Gill Sans and Perpetua from Monotype; the former is >not unified but the latter is. > >Anyway, I would be very grateful if there was a utility out there that >performed this unification once and for all. Do such a beast exist ? Yes, a shareware or PD program called N-Font does this. Font Harmony, which comes with Suitcase II, also does this. The Suitcase II manual also contains an excellent discussion of the issues involved. If you REALLY use fonts, this kind of unification doesn't solve all of the problems. I look at my Helvetica family and there is Light, Light Oblique, Regular, Regular Oblique, Bold, Bold Oblique, Black, and Black Oblique. And I don't even own all of the weights that are available! Let's not even talk about the Expert fonts... (Yes, programmers do a lot more than just program - especially if you're trying to run a one-man company.) I think Adobe did the right thing here. Type Reunion groups families better than any unification could hope to do. Service bureaus also have other users to consider. Some users will unify and some won't. If the bureau used unified families, the majority of users who didn't unify would not be able to work with some fonts. However, if you don't unify and use Type Reunion, any user can print with any font. List boxes and other nonstandard presentations are just that - nonstandard; the HIG prefers menus. Type Reunion does work with pop-up menus in dialogs though. As to Multiple Master, I can't see the average user really wanting or needing it but I know some graphic designers who would love it. +++ Lloyd Lim Internet: lim@iris.eecs.ucdavis.edu America Online: LimUnltd Compuserve: 72647,660 US Mail: 215 Lysle Leach Hall, U.C. Davis, Davis, CA 95616
kenh@eclectic.COM (Ken Hancock) (06/18/91)
In article <ROBERTK.91Jun11120100@rkrajewski.lotus.com> robertk@rkrajewski.lotus.com (Robert Krajewski) writes: >The real solution is to fix the problem at its source. There is a way >to unify the description of a Macintosh Type 1 font so that the family >variations do not appear in the enumerated list of fonts to begin >with. Some vendors unify their fonts in this manner, but Adobe >doesn't. I have Gill Sans and Perpetua from Monotype; the former is >not unified but the latter is. I have to disagree here. Harmonizing families isn't the way to go because it restricts you to 4 fonts/family: plain, italic, bold, bolditalic. Take Helvetica. You have Light/LI/Plain/PI/Bold/BI/Black/BI. You could harmonize them into two families, say Helvetica Light and Helvetica. Bold the light and it gives you black. But this becomes much more complicated when you start talking Semibolds or even numerical weights (as seen in Multiple Master demos). The best solution is to have true style menus. None of the standard QuickDraw BS -- if the chosen family has Light, Black, Semibold, Bold, etc., show them all in the Style menu. Apple currently has sample code which does exactly this for TrueType fonts. The logical extension would be to have developers have this code for both TrueType and bitmap-driven (Type 1) fonts. Ken -- Ken Hancock | INTERNET: kenh@eclectic.com Isle Systems | Compuserve: >INTERNET: kenh@eclectic.com Macintosh Consulting | AOL: KHancock | Disclaimer: My opinions are mine, | your opinions are yours. Simple, isn't it?
amanda@visix.com (Amanda Walker) (06/18/91)
In article <237@eclectic.COM> kenh@eclectic.COM (Ken Hancock) writes: >Apple currently has sample code which does exactly this for TrueType >fonts. The logical extension would be to have developers have this >code for both TrueType and bitmap-driven (Type 1) fonts. Adobe Type Reunion does pretty much the same thing for Type 1 fonts. It makes the Font menu hierarchical, with the available styles as a pullright from the family name. It seems quite compatible with most applications. -- Amanda Walker amanda@visix.com Visix Software Inc. ...!uunet!visix!amanda -- "When power leads man towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses." --John F. Kennedy