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From: shiva@well.sf.ca.us (Kenneth Porter)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript
Subject: Re: Variable characters
Summary: Compute your string sizes!
Keywords: font, character size
Message-ID: <21131@well.sf.ca.us>
Date: 11 Oct 90 04:58:35 GMT
References: <1902@fcs280s.ncifcrf.gov>
Lines: 16



When I need to get characters to fit a pre-defined space (such
as is the case on my business card), I always calculate the
point size, sometimes with x and y computed independently. The
x size can be calculated by using stringwidth after setting the
font at 1 point.  The y size can be calculated by iterating
over the string and reading the metric info for each character.
If you need to set x and y scale independently, use makefont
instead of scalefont and provide a scale matrix.
 
This allows me to substitute fonts ad hoc without digging out
my calculator to recalculate all of the sizes.  Just let the PS
interpreter do the grunt work.
 
Ken (shiva@well.sf.ca.us)