Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!att!cbnewsc!freak
From: freak@cbnewsc.att.com (c.e.malloy..iii)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript
Subject: Re: Zapf Dingbats
Message-ID: <1990Jun6.125836.15793@cbnewsc.att.com>
Date: 6 Jun 90 12:58:36 GMT
References: <1990Jun4.134931.14882@gdt.bath.ac.uk>
Distribution: usa
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 22

In article <1990Jun4.134931.14882@gdt.bath.ac.uk> ccsdc@gdt.bath.ac.uk (Dave Cunningham) writes:
>On the subject of Zapf Dingbats, does anyone know why all the pointing
>characters (arrows, hands, scissors, etc.) point to the right and why there
>are no left pointing versions? I can only assume that you are expected to
>use a mirror image version of the font but I have never seen this stated
>anywhere. Its easy with a drawing package such as CorelDRAW to mirror a
>character but most packages do not provide this facility.

I have always been told that this is because electronic type is based
on lead type and DingBats are from the box where the way to make a
left arrow into a right one was to turn it upside-down.
While this is very easy to do with small pieces of lead, it is
very difficult to do within a program that is designed to do page layout.
Maybe Adobe (or someone else) could release two DingBats. One called
RDingBat and one called LDingBat. One might also notice that all of the
graphics programs (at least for the PC) have arrows in the clip art files
and that the all point to the left. At least they all have "rotate" functions
built into them.

Clancy Mallot
AT&T Bell Labs
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