Working with fonts
Font problems
Extremely important elements in processing a job are
the fonts used in the page layout document. Fonts are
actually mini files that manage the "typefaces" you
see on the monitor.
In order to output your files correctly, we need to
have the same manufacturer, and version number of the
fonts on our system that were used in your document.
Font problems are unquestionably responsible for more
job delays and frustrations than any other area of
digital file production. However, they can be easily
avoided once you know what to look for and how to properly
organize your fonts.
Type 1 fonts for Macintosh
The original Adobe Postscript font format, Type 1,
is still considered to be the best by most professionals.
Type 1 fonts consist of two parts: the SCREEN font
and the PRINTER font.
The screen font is a bitmap image of the letter forms
used to represent the type on screen.
Shown above is a sample of the icon used for a Type
1 (or postscript) screen font for Helvetica Bold.
Screen fonts are usually collected in a “suitcase”,
which can contain fonts from many different families.
For proper organization of your fonts, it is best to
put each font family in its own font suitcase.
Shown above is a sample of the screen font suitcase
for the Helvetica family.
The printer font contains the data that is actually
sent to the laser printer or imagesetter and it is
used to correctly render each character. If the printer
fonts are not available or are damaged, your font will
look “jaggy” on the screen and will either
print with the same bitmapped appearance, or convert
automatically to a default system font such as Courier.
A sample of the printer font icon for Helvetica is
shown above.
It is important to send both the screen and printer
components for each font used in your document. This
includes fonts used for EPS files (3rd party EPS files
are notorious for containing fonts not included with
the job, as they are often sent to clients without
including the font files). Many fonts with the same
name, such as Helvetica, are manufactured by more than
one company and may have differences in kerning values,
letter weight, etc., which may cause your text copy
to reflow if we have to substitute our version of the
font because we did not have yours. On a Macintosh
platform, the fonts can be found in your main hard
drive system's folder:
Unless you are using a type manager
your MAC fonts are in the system folder.
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TrueType Fonts for Macintosh
The TrueType format was developed by Microsoft and
is now widely distributed with system software, applications
and on disks of font collections. The most obvious
difference between Type 1 and TrueType is that in True
Type both screen and printer data are contained in
one file whereas Type 1 has two separate files.
A sample of the TrueType icon for the italic version
of Century Gothic for a Macintosh is shown above. TrueType
fonts are also stored in a font suitcase and should
never be mixed with Type 1 screen fonts. Rename the
suitcase to Century Gothic Type1 and Century Gothic
Truetype and place the files accordingly. If you have
both types of fonts in the same suitcase it will occasionally
cause problems when printing.
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Type 1 and True Type for Windows
The same concepts apply for Windows versions of Type
1 (postscript) and True Type fonts. Just as on a Macintosh
system, the postscript font is composed of two parts,
a printer font and a screen font. The printer font
has an extension of .pfb and the screen font has an
extension of .pfm, and both have the same red Adobe “A” icon
as shown below.
Printer fonts are used by ATM (Adobe Type Manager)
to create crisp, accurate screen renditions of the
font at any point size. You will find the postscript
fonts in C:\psfonts folder. You must be sure
to send both the screen and printer components.
A sample of a Windows True Type icon is shown above.
If you are using ATM, then these fonts can be found
in your C:\windows\fonts\ATM folder.
If you do not use ATM, then all fonts available on
your system should be found in C:\windows\fonts.
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Font families & styles
One benefit of using ATM (Adobe Type Manager) is
that it can help you find your fonts quickly on your
hard drive. The Deluxe version includes a Font List
tab which allows you to see all the fonts your system
uses as well as if they are True Type or postscript
( Type 1) fonts. You can locate a font on this list
by clicking on it, and then under “Display” go
to “Properties” (shown below) and it will
tell you exactly where this font is, as well as the
actual name of the font. This can be very useful since
many fonts such as the “Times” font family
can have the following names: “TIR”-Times
Roman; “TIB”-Times Bold; “TII”-Times
Italic; “TIBI”-Times Bold Italic.
A font is an individual style and weight, for example,
Times Bold. A family is a collection of these individual
fonts. The family will include Times, Times Bold, Times
Italic, Times Bold Italic, etc. Your font package will
contain a printer font and a screen font for each member
of this family. A mistake commonly made when setting
up files is to “style” the font instead
of selecting the true font. One example would be to
use Times, then apply bold to it by choosing the “bold” option
from the font style menu. If you initially set up your
pages by applying styles, always go back through your
document using the “find and replace” function
and change these stylized fonts to the correct family
member to avoid imaging problems.
When you apply the characteristic <italic> to
the font "Times," the program goes to the
font file for "Times" and asks it, "what
is the name of your italic companion typeface?" The
font replies "Times Italic," and the page
layout program searches for a font with that name.
If the page layout program finds "Times Italic," then
that's what it uses. But if "Times Italic" is
missing, that spells trouble.
You should never apply bold or italic stylization
to fonts that do not have existing bold or italic family
members. It may work on your screen, and may even print
to a printer, but generally will not work correctly
when sent to an imagesetter. Sometimes bold applied
to a font that does not have a bold family member will
cause the font to have a double image. Applying italics
this way may cause the font to only slant instead of
becoming a true italic, or may not print at all to
an imagesetter.
Some styles, such as underline, superior, superscript,
subscript and small caps, can only be accomplished
by using the styles menu and are generally acceptable.
The drop shadow and outline styles should be avoided –they
were designed for non-postscript use.
More information regarding fonts and styles can be
reviewed at Adobe's font tutorial section:
www.adobe.com/type
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Avoiding font problems
Please use Adobe Type 1 fonts (when working on MAC)
for obtaining the best results.
Please include all fonts that have been used. Even
so-called ‘standard’ fonts, because different
versions of the same font do exist and may cause unwanted
differences in the printing of your documents.
Do not stylize fonts (make Bold and italic) in Quark;
i.e. don't use the 'bold' command to make regular Helvetica
appear bold. Use the correct Helvetica Bold font instead.
All fonts need to be shipped with your print files,
including the bold or italic font versions.
Remember the fonts embedded in EPS files. Often a
customer will send the fonts used to create headlines
and text, but forget to include fonts that are contained
in EPS graphics that are imported into the page layout
document.
As an alternative, before creating an EPS, you can
convert the text to paths. Most Illustration programs,
especially Illustrator and FreeHand, have the ability
to change text into vector elements so you no longer
need to include the font files. It becomes self contained.
Do backup your files before you convert!
(select your text > Type > Create Outlines)
Avoid nesting or layering of fonts. Placing type
in a graphic, then placing it in another graphic, and
finally, imprinting it into the page layout program
could make it hard for the imagesetter to find the
font. Try to keep graphic file construction simple.
Avoid obscure font manufacturers or bargain basement
fonts. All fonts are not created equal. Strange fonts
could cause problems with high-resolution output. Some
of these types of fonts are only made for 300 DPI laser
printers.
Minimum text size: Serif 4 pt, Sans-Serif 3 pt
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