How bold of me?
I’ve got a very picky client who wants everything right. By everything, I mean the fonts are targeted for use on Mac and Windows, and for print. By right, I mean the regular and bold are the proper distance in weight from each other on both platforms, and when printed.
I can solve everything except this one thing: is it possible to use one digital outline for the screen, but when it goes to print (a word document), another font is substituted? This is to get around the problem that I can make a regular and bold that work on the Mac, but regular is then too light for Windows, so it gets hinted to be heavier for windows, no problem. But then the printing of regular is too light if I do it thus so we want a bolder regular to be used only for that purpose...
Any route known for this, or should I start mixing some Cool-Aid, just like the big guys do? ;-)
19.Jul.2007 8.27am
How about a method to have 2 sets of hints; one for screen and one for print? Or turn hints off at printing? Are these TT or PS outlines? Seems to me you might ask Matthew or Tom about Verdana on this one.
Or is this one of your sassy theorems? ;)
19.Jul.2007 8.42am
Separate fonts for separate platforms?
How nostalgic of you!
19.Jul.2007 8.52am
If MPS[] worked reliably, you’d be all set ;-)
20.Jul.2007 5.32am
“sassy theorems”
Thanks guys, I found the name of my new band...
“How nostalgic of you!”
Separate platforms, renderers, applications, sizes, styles...the moo cows have left us the most fertile field imaginable, much to my dismay.
20.Jul.2007 5.52am
Think of it as separate bedrooms for a Hollywood couple who are married for convenience :-)
ChrisL
20.Jul.2007 10.15am
This is to get around the problem that I can make a regular and bold that work on the Mac, but regular is then too light for Windows, so it gets hinted to be heavier for windows, no problem. But then the printing of regular is too light if I do it thus so we want a bolder regular to be used only for that purpose...
So the source of the problem is what happens on the Mac side, yes? You need to make the regular light for Mac’s hint-free screen rendering, but then it is too light for printing.
What you are doing on the Windows side, using hints to beef-up the type on-screen, is one approach, but it seems to me that if you are contemplating using different outlines for printing you could also use different outlines to address the Windows screen rendering.
But it seems to me that the Mac screen rendering is the exceptional environment:
Mac screen = needs to be lighter
Mac print = needs to be heavier
Win screen = needs to be heavier
Win print = needs to be heavier
So in theory the most efficient approach would be to make the heavier regular outlines the ’default’ and address the Mac screen with exceptional lighter outlines, rather than making the latter the default and then have to jump through hoops on three fronts in order to support the majority need for heavier outlines.
As I say, this is in theory. The practical question is whether folk at Apple or Microsoft are more interested in the issue.
20.Jul.2007 2.35pm
The Mac heaviness solves a lot of screen-rendering problems for a lot of fonts.
And on a bright, high-resolution LCD screen, it’s not too fuzzy at all.
22.Jul.2007 10.13am
Thanks all. We’ve migrated them to seperate houses as part of our overdue diligence program and the need for italics.