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A series of help pages for Macintosh computer users!

Macintosh Ideas - Simple Font Technology

Font technology on the Macintosh is very simple but elaborate.
One can easily create a page with a variety of type styles and sizes!

Choosing type, size and quality of fonts

About all one usually needs to know about fonts on a Macintosh is:

1. how to select the type of font,
2. the size of the font and
3. whether to use bold, italics or underline.

Fonts folder

Adding fonts on a Macintosh is usually just a matter of dropping the fonts on top of the Fonts folder in the System Folder and then selecting them in an application.

There is a consideration about having "too many fonts". The more fonts in the Fonts folder, the slower the computer will function (adds to the system resources that must be retained in RAM memory).

There is a limit of 128 fonts (font suitcases) allowable in the Fonts folder but there are ways around that (such as storing families of fonts in the same font suitcase).

Any more than 128 fonts/font suitcases will not be displayed - only the first 128 in the alphabetical order will be displayed and usable in an application. If you have many fonts in the Fonts folder and they do not show up in an application, this is the reason why!!!!

Comment:
It is hard to imagine that a "normal" computer user would need more that 128 fonts - surely some of them must be rarely, if ever, used!!! Do not use the System Folder/Fonts as a storage place for fonts. Include only those fonts that you use regularly in this folder.

(Caution: If you readily accumulate "free" and "shareware" fonts and include these in the Fonts folder, some of them may contribute to system instability resulting in "freezes" or even "crashes" due to compatibility problems. Use fonts conservatively and use high/known quality fonts. PC and Mac fonts are different so don't try to use the wrong ones for your computer.)

See: Free Fonts for the Web from Microsoft. (Yes, I am recommending something from Microsoft!)

Hint:
I create a Fonts Removed folder in the System Folder and move unused fonts to that folder. This folder does not take up the system resources that storing fonts in the regular Fonts folder does. The fonts are easily moved from the Fonts Removed folder to the Fonts folder when needed for a project.

Reminder:
Don't forget to remove them again or this manual Fonts Manager system fails.

Types of fonts (beyond the name of the font)

Beyond the names of the fonts, a third level of font awareness includes some knowledge of the Types of Fonts used. It is good to know something about the type of fonts that are used by the Macintosh computer and to know the difference in their use.

There are three types of fonts used by the computer. Bitmap Fonts, PostScript Fonts, and TrueType Fonts.

Bitmap fonts

Bitmap fonts are used by the Macintosh to display information on the screen. Letters, words, and graphics are built from tiny square pixels. This is sometimes called "bitmapping" because items are drawn, or mapped, bit by bit. A bitmap font is a collection of pixel representations of letters at a fixed size.

Bitmap fonts cannot be scaled (resized) properly. If a bitmap font is enlarged, it will have the exact pattern of pixels at a larger size. Each pixel will be enlarged and letters will appear jagged. Likewise, if they are printed, you will get exactly what you see on the screen - a jagged ("pixelated") font.

To see which of the fonts are bitmap fonts, double-click on a font suitcase in the Fonts folder for that font. Bitmap fonts have a single "A" on the icon. Clicking on the icon will open a window showing the font at it's specified point size.

PostScript Fonts

A PostScript font is defined by mathematical descriptions of letter outlines that can be scaled to any size and not by square pixels. A PostScript font is actually a programing or scripting set of commands to the printer. If you were to look at the code, it would be a set of numbers and letters just as any script or code.

A PostScript font is composed of two separate files - a PostScript outline font (set of printer commands) and a Bitmap font that is shown on the screen.

With the outline font, text prints flawlessly to any PostScript Printer (usually a laser printer), eliminating the jagged edges common to bitmap fonts. However, scaling the font onscreen will result in a horrible jagged edge at large sizes (this will also happen when printing to a non-PostScript printer).

To solve this problem, Adobe developed Adobe Type Manager (ATM), a software rasterizer (the engine that draws the fonts) that smooths fonts for onscreen viewing and for printing to non-PostScript printers.

The dual files of PostScript fonts can create problems. If you lose the bitmap font, you cannot use the PostScript (outline) font and if you lose the PostScript font, the font cannot be properly scaled and will print with jagged edges.

PostScript fonts (in the Fonts Folder) will have "unique" icons and will not be located in font suitcases.

TrueType Fonts

TrueType fonts combine both screen and printer fonts into one file. The Macintosh OS includes the rasterizer engine so fonts display onscreen and print flawlessly at any size. Macintosh was again a leader in accepting TrueType technology years ago. If one does not use a Laser Printer, it is suggested that TrueType fonts should be the normal font in the font folder.

The standard Macintosh fonts, (Charcoal), (Chicago), Courier, Geneva, Helvetica, Monaco, New York, Palatino, (Symbol), Times, all come in TrueType style. Their font suitcases also include their bitmap fonts in 9, 10, 12, 14 points allowing the Mac to display commonly used sized fonts faster and more legibly (because the system does not have to rasterize the TrueType font).

All point values are possible. When one uses an 11 point font, the TrueType font is used for display and printing. TrueType fonts are necessary for the normal quickdraw printing done with normal ink-jet printers.

Scalable TrueType fonts are identifiable by their triple "A" font icon.

Final Note

Your Choice:
For the home user:
If you don't use a Laser Printer, maybe those PostScript fonts in your Fonts folder are just taking up space and are not needed for your purposes. You may get a near equal printing on a Laser Printer with the TrueType fonts and you surely will get exceptionally better printing on a normal InkJet Printer (quickdraw printer) (unless you have some special application like StyleScript).

For business users, users of professional print shops, or for Laser Printer users:
You may wish to focus on the PostScript fonts because they do give a better image on Laser Printers especially if you like to use applications such as Adobe PageMaker or QuarkXpress which make extensive use of other PostScript items such as .eps files.

Bitmap Font

PostScript Font

TrueType Font

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