Like the graphics, the bit-mapped fonts provide little pictures of each character in the font. Scalable fonts, or outline fonts as they are also called, use mathematical descriptions of the letter shapes instead.
Font Sources
Laser printers can use fonts from any of three sources:
- Every Laser has some fonts that are internal to the printer; these are called internal fonts or resident fonts.
- Fonts may also be supplied by plugging in a cartridge that contains font information, either as outlines or as bit maps; these are cartridge fonts.
- Fonts can be stored on the host computer and loaded into the printer as required; these are called soft fonts or downloaded fonts.
Font Attributes
Laser printers can print a wide variety of fonts. A font is defined as a complete set of characters, including punctuation symbols and accented characters.
One major source of confusion when talking about printers and printing is the difference between a font and a typeface.
A typeface is one particular design or face of a font, independent of size or other attribute. Therefore, a full description of a font is by its symbol set, typeface, size, style, and weight. Generally, however, the differences amongst fonts within a typeface are described by their size, style, and weight.
Symbol Set
The symbol set is the unique grouping of a specific set of characters available in a font. Fonts primarily come in two symbol sets: US ASCII which is the basic set of characters used in the United States, and Roman-8, which adds the Roman extension for many European languages. If you do not need the Roman extension most of the time, it is better to use the US ASCII set because it takes less printer memory.
Spacing
Fonts make horizontal space for each character, in which case they are called fixed-spacing or fixed-pitch fonts, or they may have variable or proportional spacing.
a) Horizontal Spacing
The horizontal spacing of letters determines how long a line is. Line length is called the column width and is measured in picas. There are 12 points to a pica and approximately 6 picas to the inch.
Horizontal spacing is a function of the size of individual letters and the spacing between them. Because almost all published material uses proportionally spaced typefaces (where a "w" takes more space than an "i"), letter size is the most important factor in spacing.
Second, in addition to the normal spacing between words, extra space can be added between both letters and words to lengthen lines in order to align their right edges (justifying the lines).
Space can also be taken away between certain letter pairs so that they will overlap (called kerning). Kerning is a function of the typeface and whether you are using upper-or lowercase. For example, a lowercase "t" and " " or a lowercase "f" and "o" can both be kerned in certain typefaces. PageMaker, for example, uses kerning lists of letter pairs for this purpose. In addition, PageMaker provides for manual kerning where space can be added or taken away from any letter pair.
The extent of your concern with horizontal spacing depends on how you want your publication to read and look. Right-justifying your text makes it easier to read but may or may not make it look better. You can justify by adding space only between words, or you can make the text look more professional by using both kerning and adding space between characters.
b) Vertical Spacing
Vertical spacing between lines of type is called leading (pronounced "ledding").
Leading, like type, is measured in points. Normally, you talk about leading in relation to the type size. For example, 10-point type with 11-point leading is described as 10/11 ("ten over eleven").
A 10/10 leading is really no leading; it is just the normal vertical spacing of a given font. As the leading increases, space is added between lines. For good readability of normal text, the leading should be 1 or 2 points greater than the type. Some DTP products like PageMaker have an "Auto" leading feature which initially provides leading of 120% percent of the type size-for instance, 10/12 or 12/14. However, you can change the "Auto" leading percentage and also manually specify leading in half-point increments, including negative leading (10/8, for example) for special effects. Figure 1-6 shows examples of 10/10, 10/12, 10/14, and 10/8 leading.
Point Size
The vertical size of type is measured in points. One point is about 1/72 inch. Points are measured from the top of the ascenders (the top of the letter "k" or "b", for example) to the bottom of the descenders (the bottom of a "p" or "y").
*k b p y*
On professional typesetting machines, type is generally available from 6 to 72 points or greater. Normal text in books, newspapers, and newsletters ranges from 9 to 12 points, with titles and head-lines larger and "fine print" being smaller. The major part of the text in these notes is in 12 point. Selected examples of sizes from 6 to 72 points are shown below:
Style
The style of a font refers to the shape of the characters; for example, common type styles are italic and roman (normal).
Weight
The weight of a font describes its "blackness"; common weights are light, medium, and bold.
Typefaces
A typeface is a symbol set sharing a common design. A typeface is a personal preference - you select one because you like it. Of course your preference depends on the effects you want to achieve. Some typefaces are easier to read or more distinctive than others.
Most designers believe that typefaces with small extra strokes (called serifs) on the ends of the letters are easier to read in large blocks of text. A common example of such a face is Times Roman. It and its derivatives are used in many newspapers, magazines, and books.
A more modern typeface, without the extra strokes (called sans serif), can be very distinctive and clean looking. Sans serif typefaces, such as Helvetica, are commonly used in advertising and on business cards and stationery. PageMaker includes the Bitstream Dutch typeface, which is a derivative of Times Roman, and the Bitstream Swiss typeface, which is a derivative of Helvetica.
Below are 2 examples of these typefaces.
Examples of Swiss and Dutch typefaces
Downloaded Bitstream Dutch and Swiss fonts are very similar to Times Roman and Helvetica, which are the industry standards for serif and sans serif but certainly there are numerous other options.
An individual publication should not have too many different typefaces. Three or four are normally considered the limit. This provides one face each for the text, titles, headings, and captions on charts or tables. Within a single typeface you also have the bold and italic styles as well as varying sizes.
Again, however, do not use too many sizes or your publication will become hard to read.
Alignment
Text can be aligned on either the left or right margin, on both margins (justified), or in the centre of the page (centred). In this country almost all text (except for titles, headings, and captions) is left-aligned. Because the Western eye is used to reading from left to right, left-aligned text is easier for us to read. Longer blocks of text prove easier to read when both the left and right margins are aligned. Right alignment and centring are used only in special circumstances, such as in titles and captions.
Orientation
The orientation refers to the direction of print on a page of output. The standard orientation is called portrait, where lines of text run parallel to the short edge of the page (the 8 1/2-inch edge on a standard sheet of paper).
The alternative is landscape orientation, where the printing runs along the wide edge of the page (the 11-inch edge on a standard sheet). The some Lasers also support two other orientations for text only: reverse portrait and reverse landscape. As you might guess, these print in the opposite direction to the first two.
Working with Different Fonts
Major Font Suppliers
- Adobe Systems Inc.
- HP
- Bitstream
- Datascan, Pacific and Others
Soft (Downloadable) Fonts -v- Resident Fonts
Soft fonts provide the greatest variety of typefaces and sizes. They also take up valuable room in your printer's memory that might otherwise be filled with text and graphics. You quickly develop a love-hate relationship with soft fonts, and you may initially hate them because they are difficult to install.
Soft fonts are bitmapped of scaleable fonts that can be transferred from your computer's disk to the printer's memory as and when required. The process of transferring them is called downloading. Hence soft fonts are also referred to as "downloadable" fonts.
Besides the printer manufacturers, several independent vendors sell soft fonts. SoftCraft has an excellent selection of soft fonts at reasonable prices as well as several tools to help you install, download, and manage them. Other soft font manufacturers include ConoGraphic Corporation and Bitstream.
Application software packages vary in the way they support soft fonts. Some packages, like Quattro Pro from Borland, allow you to build fonts in advance of using them or on the fly, and automatically downloads them at print time; while other applications only download bitmapped fonts. If your application does not download fonts software is available, such as Type Director from HP, to make building and downloading fonts possible.
Resident fonts are the most readily available but are also the most limited as to typeface and size. In the HP Laserjet, only 12-point Courier is available. The HP LaserJet+ adds the Line Printer font, the Series II adds Courier bold and the Series III adds scalable fonts. Other printers have different resident fonts. For the HP or non-PostScript world, however, you will need additional fonts for almost all desktop publishing applications. So, you must consider purchasing cartridge fonts, soft fonts, or both.
