Using Fonts

Generally speaking, fonts come in OpenType, TrueType, PostScript or bitmap form. Of these, the last can be disregarded, since they can’t be scaled without distortion. TrueType, often used by consumers, produces perfectly good results, although PostScript is preferred for desktop publishing (DTP), where easy interchange of fonts is of prime importance.

• Both TrueType and PostScript are to be replaced by OpenType, the latest font format.
• Although the Classic Mac OS can handle the same font technologies as found in other computer platforms, the Mac uses its own variations of file formats, which means you often can’t interchange fonts with other operating systems.

The Classic Mac OS supports bitmap, TrueType and PostScript fonts, but only the TrueType variety are supplied with the system, since these are adequate for most users. However, if you have a PostScript printer or need to swap material with DTP professionals you may have to install PostScript fonts.

• Bitmap fonts are obsolete, despite the fact that older TrueType fonts and many PostScript fonts are accompanied by such fonts, which are also known as screen fonts. These can be used to display characters on a computer screen at low resolution, typically 72 or 96 dpi.
• TrueType and PostScript fonts can coexist, although confusion can occur with font names when working with DTP applications. Ideally, anyone involved in publishing should remove all TrueType fonts (apart from fonts such as Chicago, Geneva and Monaco that are required by the system) and replace them by PostScript versions.
• TrueType and PostScript fonts with the same name can have slightly different character shapes. This is especially true if the two examples are supplied by a different font manufacturer, each of which is known as a foundry.
• A PostScript printer normally has a range of fonts stored within its ROM, RAM or hard disk drive. To speed up printing you should try to use the same fonts in your documents. This avoids the need to download any fonts during the printing process.

Apple Type Services for Unicode Imaging (ATSUI)

This mechanism, supplied with Mac OS 9.x, allows ATSUI-compatible applications to use other kinds of fonts, such as TrueType .ttf and .ttc fonts for Windows machines and OpenType .otf fonts.

• There are very few Classic Mac OS applications that work with ATSUI.
• ATM Light 4.6 or higher (see below) provides support for PostScript .otf font files.

Adobe Type Manager (ATM)

By itself, the Classic Mac OS doesn’t understand PostScript fonts. When such fonts are reproduced on a non-PostScript printer (sometimes erroneously called a QuickDraw printer) or shown on a computer display, the Mac uses the screen fonts supplied with the PostScript fonts, but totally ignores the real fonts. This means that the characters appear at 72 dpi and have jagged edges.

Adobe Type Manager fixes this problem. It extracts the vector information from the PostScript fonts and rasterises this into high-resolution graphics suitable for the Mac’s own QuickDraw mechanism. The computer is then able to reproduce smooth font characters on a non-PostScript device.

• ATM doesn’t let you reproduce PostScript graphics on a non-PostScript device. To work with such images you’ll need a PostScript printer. If you have a non-PostScript printer you can also use Raster Image Processor (RIP) software, although this is slower.
• Most ink-jet printers don’t support PostScript, requiring ATM or a RIP for high-quality printing of PostScript fonts. Although laser printers usually support PostScript directly, ATM can still be used to improve the appearance of PostScript fonts on the screen.
• ATM needs the PostScript font files to be in the same folder as font suitcases (see below), even with a font utility such as Suitcase that lets you keep fonts outside of the Fonts folder.
• ATM Deluxe can be used to manage PostScript and TrueType fonts in custom sets.
• ATM Light 4.6 or higher also supports PostScript fonts in .otf format.

The ATM Control Panel

To use ATM you must install the ~ATM control panel and select Restart. Opening the panel reveals the following window:-

As you can see, most changes aren’t effective until you’ve selected Restart, including the On and Off switches for ATM.

The remaining settings are as follows:-

Using Classic OS Fonts

A font is usually selected by choosing its name in the Fonts menu of the current application.

• The Mac OS doesn’t show the actual font characters in the menu, although they’re displayed in some programs. Extra extensions can be used to provide this feature in all applications.

Font Names

In older versions of the Mac OS, and with some PostScript fonts, you can select both the font and a font style in the Fonts menu. The style is shown by the following prefixes to font names:-

• With PostScript fonts you should select an appropriate font rather than a plain font in combination with the Style menu (see below). For example, to get the Times font in bold you should select B Times Bold, rather than Times in combination with Bold in the Style menu.

Having selected a font, you can modify its appearance using the Size and Style menus, as shown below.

The Size Menu

You can see in the above example that the 10 point, 12 point and 14 point items in the Size menu appear in an outlined font while the remainder are in plain text. This indicates that a screen font is only available for the 10, 12 and 14 point sizes. If the font in question is a standard bitmap font these sizes look correct while all the others are distorted. However, if ATM is in action and it’s a properly installed PostScript font, every font size will look perfect, both on-screen and when printed, either on a PostScript printer or on a non-PostScript printer.

• PostScript fonts usually include screen fonts for 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 18 and 24 point, although some fonts provide 9 point instead of 6 and 8 point.
• All TrueType font sizes are shown outlined and always reproduce perfectly.

The Style Menu

If you’re using PostScript fonts you’ll usually have separate fonts provided for each style, such as AppleGaramond Bd for bold text, AppleGaramond BdIt for bold italic and so on. Such fonts are carefully crafted to give the best results. Applying any of the styles shown in the Style menu isn’t usually a good idea with these fonts, since the system creates these styles by making rudimentary modifications to the Plain style of the PostScript font. For example, Bold is produced by adding extra pixels to the width of the Plain style whilst Italic is made by leaning the font at an angle.

Some of the more popular TrueType fonts also include additional styled font files for generating optimum results with all selections in the Style menu, although you’ll need to look inside each font suitcase (see below) to confirm if such files are present. However, if these are missing the system again modifies the Plain styles to create other styles in the menu.

Whatever the font, some styles under the Style menu, such as Underline, Outline, Shadow, Condensed and Extended are generated successfully from the Plain font or other standard styles.

The Fonts Folder

In very old versions of the Classic Mac OS, all resources used by the system, including fonts, are stored in the System file, inside the System Folder. This special kind of file, known as a suitcase, behaves in a similar way to a folder, but is actually a file to which the user can add extra resources.

In later versions of the Mac OS, fonts are kept in the Fonts folder, also inside the System Folder. Contrary to appearances, these fonts also become part of the System file, as in older systems. Such fonts are normally supplied as font suitcases, which are similar to the System file itself, containing all the font files for one or more font families.

• You can have up to 128 suitcases in the Fonts folder. If you need more, you must use a font utility such as Suitcase, which lets you keep suitcases anywhere on your disk drive.
• Each suitcase can contain any number of font files for any number of font families.
• All the font files for a particular font family must be in the same suitcase.
• Before dragging suitcases out of the Fonts folder or font files out of their parent suitcases you must quit all running applications. In this context, the Finder isn’t an application.
• You can add suitcases at any time but the fonts aren’t available to running applications unless you quit and restart them. You don’t need to restart your Mac to use a new font selection.
• If you drag one suitcase into another, the font files from the first suitcase are merged into those of the second. However, all the fonts will appear as usual in your Font menus.
• You can’t put suitcases within other folders inside the Fonts folder.
• You should avoid moving suitcases continuously in and out of the Fonts folder. Instead, pick some really classy fonts and then leave the folder well alone.
• In Mac OS 7.x you may encounter an ‘in use’ dialogue after you’ve copied an active font suitcase onto a disk which you then try to eject. You can avoid this problem by pressing Option whilst dragging font suitcases to their destination.

Any damaged suitcases should be consigned to the Trash, assuming the system lets you do it. If not, move the Fonts folder to the desktop and drag the unwanted items to the Trash. If this fails, create a new Fonts folder in the System Folder, move all the good suitcases into it, select Restart and then drag the original Fonts folder to the Trash.

Any unwanted suitcases can be temporarily disabled by moving them to another folder, ideally a folder called Fonts (Disabled) in the System Folder, as this naming is used by various utilities, including Symbionts and ExAminer.

Suitcases

Most Classic Mac OS suitcases contain a single font family, whose name appears in Font menus. And, in most instances, the name of the suitcase is the same as that of the font family. Here’s what you might see inside a modern suitcase:-

Some suitcases contain several font families, as in this example:-

In this instance all the fonts are resizable or scalable, as demonstrated by the ‘multiple letters’ in each font icon. Such scalable fonts are usually in TrueType form.

This following suitcase contains one font family, with TrueType fonts and screen fonts:-

The first font is the TrueType version, again identified by its special icon, while the remainder are screen fonts for 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 18 and 24-point representation.

• The fonts supplied with Mac OS 8.5 or higher don’t include screen fonts, sometimes resulting in a slightly different shape to the fonts in older systems. Modern versions of the Mac OS use TrueType fonts in preference to bitmaps, with TrueType tables for on-screen display. These more recent fonts also include the € (Euro currency) symbol.
• The TrueType system can’t always reproduce fonts accurately on the computer screen, particularly when Italic is selected. If you have this problem with Times you should install the Equation Editor fonts suitcase, as supplied with some versions of ClarisWorks. This file contains additional screen fonts for italic and other font styles.
• If you need accurate on-screen positioning, and can accept a reduction in speed or clarity, you can remove the screen font files from a suitcase. Conversely, if you’re creating material for on-screen viewing and need to save disk space, you can remove the TrueType font files.

The above suitcase has only one TrueType resource, requiring the system to create other styles by modifying the Plain font. Hence Bold is created by adding 10% to the character width and Italic is made by slanting the characters 11° to the right. The results aren’t always ideal. In fact, much better styles can be obtained by using separate resources, as in this example:-

Some older fonts also use separate style resources for one or more of the screen fonts, as in the Classical font family, which has font files of Classical (bold, italic) 14, Classical (bold, italic) 18, Classical (italic) 14 and Classical (italic) 18.

Last, but not least, here’s a suitcase that only contains screen fonts:-

Generally speaking, this kind of font is unsuitable for printing (unless you actually want jagged edges) and produces distorted text with sizes other than those shown, in this instance 9 and 12 point. However, if you don’t mind jagged edges you can use multiples, such as 18 or 24 point.

Points to Note About Screen Fonts:-

• The oldest systems include Athens, Cairo, Chicago, Geneva, London, Los Angeles, Mobile, Monaco, San Francisco and Venice fonts, but only as screen fonts. These city fonts provide normal characters, except for Cairo and Mobile, which contain dingbats. Apart from Chicago, Geneva and Monaco, these fonts aren’t used in modern systems.
• Screen fonts are also used for printing in earlier systems, although Apple’s ImageWriter printer in Draft mode doesn’t use fonts; instead, it simply spaces the characters. However, in Best mode it scales down a twice size font to give 144 dpi. If a twice size font can’t be found it uses a 4 times size and so on. Similarly, the ImageWriter LQ printer uses three times size fonts, or multiples thereof, to give 216 dpi.
• Earlier screen fonts often contain old-style FONT resources that are susceptible to corruption with Mac OS 8.6, although other versions of the system don’t have this problem. You can fix this with Apple’s own software or you can install the Font Fixer for 8.6 extension.
• Mac OS X can’t use font suitcases that only contain screen fonts, including those previously required for use with PostScript fonts in the Classic Mac OS (see below).

Font Files

All Classic font suitcases contain at least one font file. You can examine the contents of a such a file by simply double-clicking on it, in which case you’ll usually see a window of the following form:-

This example is a TrueType font, as indicated by the different sizes of font. If you open a screen font you’ll see a single size font in a window that looks something like this:-

Unfortunately the window give for a dingbat font isn’t always very useful:-

• You can find the key for a character using Key Caps, as supplied with the Mac OS, or with PopChar Pro (Uni Software Plus), which lets you choose characters from the menubar.
• A damaged suitcase may lack a list of fonts inside the suitcase or may not show the text inside one or more font files. Such suitcases, which can cause crashes and other problems, should be moved to the Trash at the earliest possible opportunity. You should then select Restart and, if possible, install a fresh copy of the suitcase.

Font IDs

In older software, fonts are identified by a font number, also known as an ID. With older computers this is faster than using names, although confusion occurs when different machines use an alternative ID for the same font. Although modern applications identify fonts by name, the Mac OS still assigns every font a number.The lower numbers, reserved by Apple for their own fonts, are:-

Most of the remaining numbers are assigned dynamically. So, when you install a font onto a machine where a number is already used the font is given a new and arbitrary ID. Many of the following fonts are commonly encountered, which means they’ll probably have the same ID on your computer.

• Applications that identify fonts by the font name can get very confused if PostScript and TrueType fonts that have the same name are active at the same time.
• The default font and default font size used in some older applications are set by two data bytes inside the application file that contain the font ID or font name. In some applications this is kept in an EFNT resource, which can be modified using Apple’s ResEdit application.

System Fonts

Some of the fonts listed above, namely Charcoal, Chicago, Capitals, Gadget, Sand, Techno and Textile, can be chosen as the Large System Font menu in the Appearance control panel, which then appears in menubars and dialogues. These fonts are different to most other fonts in that they contain all the special characters required for use in menubars.

• The sfn# resource in the System file lists the names of acceptable system fonts.
• Apple’s Espi font, not to be confused with Espy, comes in 10 and 12 point sizes, with the bold 10 point version as a special bitmap. The latter is an attractive font, although you’ll need to modify the sfn# resource in your System file to use it. Alternatively, you can use a special suitcase with the resources renamed to match one of the accepted fonts.

The Small System Font menu in the Appearance control panel is usually set to the Geneva font, although in some version of the Mac OS you can use an application such as FreeGeneva to let you use an alternative font. Fortunately, any font can be selected in the Views Font menu.

• Some fonts shown in the Views Font menu may generate different characters to those that you’d expect, especially if there are control code characters in a filename.
• The Espy font was originally provided inside the Apple Guide extension file. It’s supplied in 9-point form, making it an ideal font to choose in the Views Font menu.

Font Resources

A font family consists of font files in a suitcase with the same basic name. For example, the font files named Garamond, Garamond (bold), Garamond (bold, italic), Garamond (italic), Garamond 10, Garamond 12 and Garamond 14 form the Garamond font family.

The relationship between font files and the Mac OS resources that constitute a family is rather complex. At the highest level there is the font family descriptor resource, identified by the FOND resource code. This provides information about the family, also referring to other resources that define the shape of characters in each style or size of the font.

• A suitcase only contains one FOND resource for each family. However, if you drag some of the family’s font files from the suitcase each one contains a copy of the FOND resource.

Various resources are used to describe the shape of a font. The oldest kind, known as a FONT, is a bitmap description. The NFNT resource is similar, but allows larger fonts to be reduced in size to obtain greater resolution during printing. Finally, there’s the scalable font resource, identified by the sfnt code, which usually contains a TrueType font.

• A scalable font file can contain a TrueType GX or an enabled PostScript font (see below). Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy way of finding out what kind of font is in a file.

Font Names

The name of a font, as seen in Font menus, is set by the name of each FOND resource. Although best avoided, names can be changed by opening a suitcase in ResEdit, selecting the resource for the font, choosing Get Info and entering the new name.

• The renamed font isn’t recognised by documents that know it by the original name.
• Names beginning with % (percentage sign) are recognised by documents but don’t appear in the Fonts menu. This is useful for fonts only used by special applications or by self-reading documents. So, if you want the Arial font but don’t want it to appear in menus, you can rename it as %Arial. This form of naming is also used for barcode fonts.
• You should never have more than one font with the same name. If you find that you have both a TrueType suitcase and a similarly named suitcase linked to a PostScript font file you should remove one or the other. If you’re normally using PostScript fonts you should remove the TrueType version, ensuring that ATM is active to give a smooth appearance to the font.
• You should never change the name of a suitcase that’s linked to a PostScript font file. If you do rename such a font you’ll find that it no longer works as a PostScript font.

PostScript Fonts

PostScript is a description language that can define anything from a single font to an entire page of a document. PostScript fonts are the universal standard for desktop publishing (DTP). In fact, the popular Times and Palatino fonts were originally produced in this form.

All PostScript fonts should print perfectly at any size, even though screen fonts may not be present for all sizes. Fortunately, this isn’t a problem if you’ve installed the ATM control panel.

PostScript Font Versions

In theory, there are at least three kinds of PostScript fonts:-

• In practice, you’ll usually encounter only Type 1 fonts.
• FontMonger (Ares Software) converts Type 1 or Type 3 fonts into TrueType, or vice versa.

PostScript Font Files and Suitcases

The way in which PostScript fonts are stored in the Classic Mac OS is rather confusing. Unlike other kinds of fonts, where the font description is contained in a standard font suitcase, each PostScript font is kept in a separate PostScript font file, also known as an outline font file.

• To add to the confusion, an enabled PostScript font used within the QuickDraw GX environment actually is stored inside a suitcase (see below).

Here’s an example the files required in the Fonts folder for a PostScript font:-

As always, there is a single font suitcase that also contains the screen fonts for the entire family. In this instance there are also two PostScript font files, one for the Italic font style and another for the Roman style, the latter being equivalent to the Plain style of a TrueType font.

• The suitcase in the above example ensures that Superior Condensed appears in Font menus. The screen fonts in the suitcase aren’t essential for a modern version of the Mac OS with ATM, so some of these can be removed, if preferred. However, at least one screen font, such as Superior Condensed 12, must be kept for the suitcase to work.
• Applications compatible with ATSUI in Mac OS 9.x can use PostScript fonts that aren’t accompanied by a suitcase. In this instance the system’s Font Manager synthesises the necessary FOND resource, allowing the PostScript font to be used. You should, however, ensure that you have a version of ATM that works with ATSUI.

Missing PostScript Font Files

In the above example you should have both the PostScript font files for Superior Condensed to work. If they’re missing the font appears normally in the Font menus but only works as a bitmap font. Fortunately, if you transfer your document to other DTP users they won’t have any problems. However, if you try to print from your computer you’ll get a 72 dpi bitmap rendition of the font.

If only some of the PostScript font files are missing the computer tries to create the required style from the plain font. For example, it simulates boldface characters by adding 30% to the width of plain characters and oblique characters by slanting each character to the right by 15°.

• The terms boldface and oblique usually refer to a specific PostScript font. The terms bold and italic can refer to the modified form of a plain font, or to a style in any kind of font.

Downloading Fonts to a PostScript Printer

All PostScript printers come with permanent fonts in ROM. Although extra fonts can be automatically downloaded to the printer from the Fonts folder during printing, it’s often more efficient to send them beforehand using an appropriate printer utility.

• Sending fonts to a printer takes time, which can be avoided by storing extra fonts in the printer itself. Some models accept an external hard disk drive while others, including a few of the original LaserWriter models, accept a Printer Font Expansion card.
• Printing errors can be minimised by fitting your printer with at least 2 MB of RAM, although 16 MB or more is required for advanced graphics. You’ll also need more if you use FinePrint, available in older Apple printers, or PhotoGrade, as used in some LaserWriters.

Fonts and PostScript Printing Options

The PostScript Options window in Page Setup of the LaserWriter 8 printer driver lets you modify the behaviour of a PostScript printer, as shown below.

TrueType GX Fonts

TrueType GX fonts are a variation of the TrueType font format. With GX-compatible applications, such as LightningDraw GX, Poster GX and SimpleText, you can morph or modify the characteristics of such fonts. In addition, GX fonts aren’t limited to simple styles: they incorporate intelligent ligatures and pair kerning and accommodate up to 65,000 different characters.

To use GX fonts you must install QuickDraw GX, which lets you use any combination of TrueType, TrueType GX or enabled PostScript Type 1 fonts (see below).

• QuickDraw GX isn’t supported by recent versions of the Mac OS.
• GX fonts can crash a non-GX application if QuickDraw GX isn’t installed. Similarly, GX font suitcases may not display properly if QuickDraw GX isn’t active. Some font utilities, such as PopChar, crash if GX fonts are active, although enabled PostScript fonts aren’t a problem.

Font Protocols

The Classic Mac OS selects fonts according to a set of rules, as described below.

Printing Problems

Numerous problems can occur during printing, as detailed below.

Other Problems

Here are some problems that you might encounter:-

Using Fonts as Drawing Objects

Most dingbat fonts include a wide range of useful graphical elements. Unfortunately they’re not so easy to manipulate as normal graphics, which means you can’t rotate or stretch them. However, both PostScript and TrueType fonts are created using vector-based mechanisms, which means that it is possible to use such font characters as vector graphics whose shape can be freely adjusted.

• To take advantage of PostScript fonts in the Classic Mac OS you must install the ATM control panel, also known as Adobe Type Manager. In the panel, choose 448 K or more of RAM and select Preserve Character Shapes. Then select Restart to make the changes effective.

The following methods have been used successfully:-

Reference

MacWorld magazine (UK), IDG Communications, 2002

©Ray White 2004.