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FONT FACTS AND A PRINTING PRIMER
02.12.09
Contents: As we said earlier, most Windows users don't normally need the extra features afforded by the various PostScript tools. Nevertheless, it is important to be aware of how they relate to other font & printing technologies. Increasing use of the Web is focusing new attention on the issue of fonts and you'll likely be hearing more about them in coming months. The whole of this discussion on the various types of fonts is based on a key assumption: that the fonts necessary to view or print a document are available on the user's PC, either resident in the printer or as font files on disk. This presents a dilemma for those creating documents and distributing them on the Web. Pre-Web, the fonts used in a document weren't physically part of that document; they were only referred to in the document file. When the document is viewed or printed, the font information is loaded from the font file(s) installed on the PC. This being the case, how can Web authors be certain that users all over the Web, using a wide range of operating systems and browsers, will have the fonts needed to output the document as originally designed? The HTML standard currently has very few features that allow an author to control the fonts that a user sees. (In fact, most browsers let the user specify a desired font for the text portion of most Web pages.) The "FONTFACE" code in HTML release 3.2 does allow an author to name a specific font for any section of text. The trick is that all users must have that exact font installed in their computers in order for them to see the same thing. While there are some TrueType flints that most Windows (and Mac) users would likely have installed, the author can never be completely sure of this. And that would still leave out users on platforms that don't normally support. TrueType (UNIX, for instance). |