From: unknown@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (99E99)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Re: TrueType fonts--Help
Date: 11 Apr 92 10:54:21 GMT
Organization: University of California, Santa Cruz; Open Access Computing


In article <11930003@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM> sjordan@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Steve Jordan) writes:
}Could someone describe TrueType fonts?  

	Truetype fonts are a type of font developed by Apple. The difference
between regular GS fonts and Truetype fonts is that regular GS fonts are 
bitmap fonts.  That is, with regular fonts, there is a "picture" of each 
letter/symbol in the font in each size that you have installed in your 
*/system/fonts folder.  When you tell the system to use a font size that you
do *not* have in your fonts directory, then the system has to scale an 
existing font into the new size, which usually makes it look "jaggy".

	Truetype fonts are defined mathematically through the use of 
equations. You can then ask for a font of any size (well, 1 to 255 point in the
case of the GS.. although 1 point will be a little small on the screen.. heh),
and it will be scaled on the fly to the size you ask for.  Through this 
method, you don't get "jaggies" in the output on the screen or on your 
printer (presuming you are using a printer driver that scales the screen 
size up appropriately to maximize the use of the printer's resolution).

}Are they included with my sys6, or do I need to get them separately? (Where?)

	The GS has _NO SUPPORT_ for Truetype fonts built into the system
software.  System 6 is only relevant to the issue with the fact that a memory
size limitation of fonts was removed in System 6.  Since bigger fonts take
up more memory, this can allow some printouts that would not have been
possible previously.

	To use Truetype fonts, you need a program called "Pointless", written
by Alan Bird.  You can buy it through the mail order companies that advertize
in InCider/A+.

}Why are they any better than standard GS fonts?  Do my GS programs 
}automatically use them, or do I need programs written to take advantage of 
}them?  Doesn't the new Windows 3.1 for IBM PCs use TrueType fonts?  I probably 
}missed an old note that described all this...

	As was described above, the use of the Pointless program gives better
output when used with most printers. (The Laserwriters are the exception
because the Laserwriter driver doesn't use the same technique that the other
printer drivers use.. Hopefully this may be fixed or at least "partially
remedied" [hooks put in for third party INITs] in the future).

	You do not need special programs.  In theory, all GS specific 
programs that use the Toolbox's built in font rendering routines will work
with Truetype fonts (that is, with the Pointless product). [As an example,
one GS specific word processor that does NOT use the normal Toolbox font
rendering routines is WordPerfect GS].

	Yes, Windows for IBM PCs use Truetype fonts also. You can use 
"Mac" Truetype fonts with Pointless, and presumably that also applies to
"IBM" Truetype fonts (though some sort of "extraction" utility could be
necessary if they use some strange format).
-- 
/unknown@ucscb.ucsc.edu GS SIMM mem card & trackball WANTED  Apple II Forever!\
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