Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 16:12:06 -0500 From: Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> To: Jamie Bowden <ragnar@sysabend.org> Cc: chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: banner(6) Message-ID: <15071.21670.973343.199718@guru.mired.org> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.10.10104191341360.84385-100000@moo.sysabend.org> References: <15071.18872.620776.754228@guru.mired.org> <Pine.BSF.4.10.10104191341360.84385-100000@moo.sysabend.org>
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Jamie Bowden <ragnar@sysabend.org> types: > On Thu, 19 Apr 2001, Mike Meyer wrote: > :Jamie Bowden <ragnar@sysabend.org> types: > :> On Thu, 19 Apr 2001, Mike Meyer wrote: > :> :> My grandfather is a printer. Has a Heidelberg in his garage. I don't > :> :> need to steenkin' Chicago Manual of Style to confirm what Brett's saying. > :> :> When he talks about a font, he's talking about something specific like > :> :> Helvetica 12pt. medium. > :> :So what did he call a collection of programs that are used to render a > :> :typeface? *That's* the question at hand. > :> Usually crap, as most suck. It's amazing just how bad computers are at > :> displaying fonts properly. He uses some program to layout offset jobs, > :> but for real precision small scale stuff, the movable type that changed > :> the world is far superior. > :Generally, yes. Every thing that computers have done to make text > :easier to generate and access has also made the resulting texts > :uglier, with the world wide web being the current extreme of both > :trends. > Didn't used to be. A lot of the software for the Mac in the late 80s and > early 90s was specific to printing presses, and would properly render on > screen to allow you to see what would actually come off the press (within > the limits of the resolution of the monitor you were displaying to). Odd - the Mac is one of the reasons that PostScript (aka "Crap") fonts became popular. I know there was some good software for typesetting on it, which could well have made things better. On the other hand, the stuff that was actually popular led to a general decline in the quality of printed texts. The WWW is much the same way - used properly by someone who knows what they are doing, it can lead to the quicker distribution of texts of the best quality that was produced on the Mac. As used by most people, using it for a few hours makes you want to curl up with a good book (Credit that to Edward Tufte). > :> :With all deference due to the old practitioners of the field, I think > :> :the font foundry that created the name "scalable fonts" chose the > :> :write noun to provide with a new adjective. > :> I'd say they chose the 'right' one, if didn't think the way the terms are > :> used in the computer industry is totally stupid. It's a typeface. > :Regular PS fonts have exactly *one* thing in common with a typeface, > :which makes calling them a typeface a real stretch. > Changing the size and leaving the wieght in tact is still a different > font. That they only allow you to change a single parameter does not > change that. It just means you have really ugly fonts if you shrink or > enlarge too small. As discussed elswhere (and used as evidence for them being typefaces), correctly designed PS fonts should properly. > :Since I've never seen a typeface - only the result of using the font > :created from them - I'm curious as to what the controls that you > :change to get cold type look like. Got a reference where those are > :described. > My grandfather let me set type as a kid. I learned a lot of interesting > things, but I have no formal reference for you, sorry. One of the more > interesting bits is that while using a font that has the same width is > good on a computer screen, variable width is what is optimal for actual > print work. I was being facetious. I'd be surprised if there was ever a piece of *hardware* you could call a typeface. Thanx, <mike -- Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/ Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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