Re: FontForm
- To: mathgroup at yoda.physics.unc.edu
- Subject: Re: FontForm
- From: elbert at middlebury.edu
- Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 14:42:19 EDT
Steve Wilkinson writes: >Mathgroup, > >I am running Mathematica v2.0 on a Macintosh. I wish to use the font "Times- >Italic" for text displayed in graphics. I can't get FontForm (or DisplayFont) >to work correctly. Are there any suggestions on a workaround? > I'm not sure what he means but not working correctly. I'm running v.2.1 on the Mac and FontForm works fine--in terms of printed results. My understanding is that FontForm just passes the font selection into the Postscript code for the graphic (essentially just adding the appropriate "findfont" and "setfont" postscript commands) and your postscript output device handles it from there. It all works fine for output for me. If by doesn't work he means in the screen display, there are many possibilites for problems, some of which I understand and some of which I don't. There are several things which can affect the situation: 1) Are you using postscript fonts with associated bitmaps (preferably from Adobe, since Apple's bitmaps encode different spacing than the adobe fonts which are probably standard in your printer). 2) Are you using something like Adobe's ATM (type manager) to produce the screen images of the fonts guided by their bitmaps and the postscript outlines, 3)Do you have any TrueType fonts loaded in your system, which are Apple-Microsoft's attempt to do there own outline fonts and invariably screw things up if have a postscript printer and especially if you use ATM. I have ATM and all adobe fonts (I think the standard set of fonts--those found in most laserprinters--is still included with ATM) and still do find less than perfect screen display behavior in Mma when using FontForm. Specifically, simple font selections (such as Times, Helvetica, or even Bembo (a favorite of mine)) display without problem, but some varietal fonts (like Times-Italic!) won't display on the screen, 'tho they print fine. This may or may not be a Mma problem per se, and I suspect you might work around it if you find and install a bitmap for the specific varietal font. Since, however, italic fonts rarely look all they great on the screen, I've never worried about it (not that it shouldn't work correctly as a matter of principle of course). If all that doesn't help in some way, Steve, how 'bout more details on desired behavior? David Elbert Department of Geology Middlebury College Middlebury, VT 05753 Elbert at midd.bitnet