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From: lim@iris.ucdavis.edu (Lloyd Lim)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Unified Postscript Fonts {Was: Neat Idea for a System Extension}
Message-ID: <9169@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu>
Date: 12 Jun 91 21:47:08 GMT
References: <1991Jun7.101930.28539@athena.cs.uga.edu> <ROBERTK.91Jun11120100@rkrajewski.lotus.com>
Sender: usenet@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu
Reply-To: lim@iris.ucdavis.edu (Lloyd Lim)
Organization: U.C. Davis - Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Lines: 52

In article <ROBERTK.91Jun11120100@rkrajewski.lotus.com> robertk@rkrajewski.lotus.com (Robert Krajewski) writes:
>In article <1991Jun7.101930.28539@athena.cs.uga.edu> fore@athena.cs.uga.edu (Howard Fore) writes:
>
> Then the laser fonts were divided further into one each for Bold, 
> Italic, Bold Italic, and Roman (Book) faces. Now there is TrueType and Adobe's
> latest creation, Multiple Master (is this really any good?). Adobe fixed some
> of the problem with their TypeReunion (a truely awesome INIT, oops, system
> extension). 
>
>As soon as you buy the Adobe Plus Pack, you're going to run into font
>menu clutter. Adobe will happily sell you Type Reunion, which pretty
>much does what it's supposed to, but it can't work on font menus that
>appear as list boxes, or use other non-standard presentations.
>
>The real solution is to fix the problem at its source. There is a way
>to unify the description of a Macintosh Type 1 font so that the family
>variations do not appear in the enumerated list of fonts to begin
>with. Some vendors unify their fonts in this manner, but Adobe
>doesn't. I have Gill Sans and Perpetua from Monotype; the former is
>not unified but the latter is.
>
>Anyway, I would be very grateful if there was a utility out there that
>performed this unification once and for all. Do such a beast exist ?

Yes, a shareware or PD program called N-Font does this.  Font Harmony, which
comes with Suitcase II, also does this.  The Suitcase II manual also contains
an excellent discussion of the issues involved.

If you REALLY use fonts, this kind of unification doesn't solve all of the
problems.  I look at my Helvetica family and there is Light, Light Oblique,
Regular, Regular Oblique, Bold, Bold Oblique, Black, and Black Oblique.
And I don't even own all of the weights that are available!  Let's not even
talk about the Expert fonts...  (Yes, programmers do a lot more than just
program - especially if you're trying to run a one-man company.)

I think Adobe did the right thing here.  Type Reunion groups families better
than any unification could hope to do.  Service bureaus also have other users
to consider.  Some users will unify and some won't.  If the bureau used
unified families, the majority of users who didn't unify would not be able
to work with some fonts.  However, if you don't unify and use Type Reunion,
any user can print with any font.  List boxes and other nonstandard
presentations are just that - nonstandard; the HIG prefers menus.  Type
Reunion does work with pop-up menus in dialogs though.

As to Multiple Master, I can't see the average user really wanting or needing
it but I know some graphic designers who would love it.

+++
Lloyd Lim     Internet: lim@iris.eecs.ucdavis.edu
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