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From: dave@PRC.Unisys.COM (David Lee Matuszek)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system,comp.sys.mac.comm
Subject: Bad spacing in TrueType fonts
Keywords: TrueType
Message-ID: <17976@burdvax.PRC.Unisys.COM>
Date: 12 Jun 91 14:42:20 GMT
Sender: news@PRC.Unisys.COM
Organization: Unisys Corporation, Paoli Research Center; Paoli, PA
Lines: 54

Setup:  Mac IIsi, ImageWriter II, System 7.0.

I am having problems with word spacing being messed up when using
TrueType fonts.

It very much resembles an old problem with bitmap fonts.  If you print
a 12-point bitmap font on the ImageWriter using "Best" quality, it
uses the 24-point font; and if the letters aren't all exactly twice as
wide as the same letters in the 12-point font, word spacing comes out
wrong.  I understand this error and have occasionally fixed fonts to
correct it.  However, I am getting what appears to be the identical
kind of problem with TrueType fonts.

To be very specific:  Using the Chicago font that I downloaded along
with System 7, when printing my son's name (Steve Matuszek), there is
no space between the first and last names when using Chicago 14 or
Chicago 11; however, Chicago 12, 13, and 15 seem to work OK.  Looking
at the System file, I seem to have Chicago TT and Chicago 14 installed.

This is just an example, made specific in case anyone wants to test
it.  Some things print OK, some don't.  I don't have a full list yet,
but I have trouble with most of the TT fonts.  I printed a long paper
using Times, and that seems to have only occasional problems--enough
to make it look of poor overall quality, but still quite legible.

I am pretty sure I have cleaned out all older versions of the
offending fonts.  My Suitcase II is off (not yet upgraded to a working
version), so that isn't at fault.  Printing was done from MS Word 4.0
and also from Nisus 3.06, with identical results.

I have a short program I wrote a few months ago to check character
widths on all "real" (installed, not computed) font sizes.  It
compares each size with all multiples of that size, e.g. it checks
9-point against 18-point, 27-point, etc., making sure that the 18
point "a" is twice as wide as the 9-point "a", etc., etc.  The program
seems to work fine with TT fonts, except that with TrueType ALL font
sizes are "real", so it does a lot of work.  Chicago 12 checks out
fine against all its multiples; NO OTHER SIZE of Chicago does.  I
haven't explored enough to see if this is just round-off error because
of the way TT is done, or if there are significant differences.

I figure Apple can't have screwed up TrueType fonts this badly, after
all the work they've put into them, so it must be me.  But how?

All suggestions will be appreciated.  To minimize bandwidth, please
reply directly to me; I will post the solution.

a T d H v A a N n K c S e !


-- Dave Matuszek (dave@prc.unisys.com)  I don't speak for my employer. --
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