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FONT FACTS AND A PRINTING PRIMER
02.12.09
Contents: One term that always pops up in any discussion of fonts is PostScript, a technology developed by Adobe Systems. Use of the term itself can be confusing, because it is applied to several different concepts: there are the PostScript language, PostScript fonts, and PostScript printers. The PostScript programming language is a "page description language," used to format and lay out text and graphics on a printed page. PostScript code is normally generated by an application, like a word processor or desktop publishing system. The codes are then sent to a PostScript printer, which has its own CPU and circuitry for interpreting the codes. (That extra CPU is one reason PostScript printers are more expensive than non-PostScript ones.) The codes contain all the information about how the printer should format and print the text, symbols and graphics in a document. The PostScript codes generated by an application can also be sent to a disk file, rather than to the printer. The file will contain ASCII text for all the codes, and the file can be copied from the disk to any PostScript printer. This feature is often used to distribute formatted documents, especially in the academic community. You may run across such files on the Web; they'll normally have a ".ps" file extension. Users can download them and copy them directly to a PostScript printer, without having to lead them into any application program first. This works extraordinarily well, because PostScript codes are designed to be device-independent. The same file can be sent to PostScript printers of different manufacturers and will produce virtually the same result on each one. The CPU in the printer interprets the codes in the file and adjusts the output to match the particular features of that printer. |