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From: rob@lighthouse.com (Rob Kedoin)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript
Subject: RE: FAXable Fonts
Message-ID: <1991Mar31.173349.258@lighthouse.com>
Date: 31 Mar 91 17:33:49 GMT
Organization: Lighthouse Design, Ltd.
Lines: 77

This was posted some time last year and answers most of your questions.

Rob Kedoin		rob@lighthouse.com
Lighthouse Design, Ltd
6516 Western Avenue Chevy Chase, MD 20815

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From: jeynes@adobe.COM (Ross A. Jeynes)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript
Subject: Answers about fax fonts
Date: 15 May 90 23:31:27 GMT
Reply-To: jeynes@adobe.COM (Ross A. Jeynes)
Organization: Adobe Systems Incorporated, Mountain View


There have been some messages on the net lately about Adobe's recommendations 
for fonts and faxing.  Our article in the Fall 1989 issue of the Font & 
Function catalog seems to have fallen short in its explanation of the test we 
ran to arrive at our choice of fonts.  This message is a clarification of that 
article, and provides some additional recommendations.

The test originated from a customer's request to purchase Adobe fonts that 
would fax well.  We turned to a member of the typographic staff for a quick, 
well-informed, response.  Her approach was to select typefaces that had been 
designed specifically for legibility, ranging from Clarendon, designed in the 
1840s, to Utopia, designed in 1989.  She also wanted to compare typefaces with 
small and large x-heights, serif and sans serif designs, and a designs with a 
range of set widths, (character widths).

A test set of twelve typefaces was selected.  A business letter was printed 
twelve times, once in each typeface.  All letters were printed at 11-point on 
a LaserWriter II-NTX.  At 300-dpi resolution, 11-point type is far more 
legible than 10-point, while conserving more space than 12-point.

The printed letters were then faxed twice, once between two local sites and 
once between Boston and Mountain View, California.  There were very slight 
differences between the two sets, but the overall color of the text and the 
quality of the letterforms remained the same.

The faxes were then posted on a bulletin board, and 30 people cast hidden 
ballots ranking all twelve typefaces for clarity, legibility, and 
readability.

The typefaces, in order of preference, are:
	Lucida
	Lucida Sans
	ITC Stone Sans
	ITC Bookman Light
	Corona
	Utopia
	Frutiger
	Melior
	Century Expanded
	News Gothic
	Glypha
	Clarendon

As a follow-up Adobe has done a similar test for the typefaces resident in 
most laser printers (both Adobe PostScript and PostScript-clone printers). 
Again, the business letter was printed once in each of the typefaces and set 
at 11-point.  The faxed letters were voted upon for clarity, legibility, and 
readability.

In order of preference, the typefaces are:
	Palatino
	Helvetica
	ITC Bookman Light
	New Century Schoolbook
	Courier
	Times Roman
	ITC Avant Garde
	ITC Zapf Chancery


Ross Jeynes              
Developer Support                                           jeynes@adobe.com
Adobe Systems Incorporated                         {sun|decwrl}!adobe!jeynes