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Don't Mix
Try to use PostScript, OpenType or MultipleMaster fonts. Don't mix these with TrueType. This cause serious printing problems and difficulties creating PDF files.
Myfonts
The most comprehensive directory of the font industry, listing over 300 foundries, 1,500 designers and 25,000 fonts, including Apple's fonts.
HYPERLINKS
Serif or Sans Serif?
A serif is the fine line finishing off the main strokes of a letter, as at the top and bottom of an M. Serifs were developed on Roman inscriptional capitals to improve elegance and legibility. They were actually painted on the stone with a brush and then carved. Serifs survive in modern typography because of their beauty and classical associations and because they help your eye read text more easily. It's best to use serif fonts for small text body sizes, and reserve the use of sans serif fonts (sans is French for 'without') for headlines and other short pieces of text.
Fonts
Topics
- Font Locations in Mac OS X
- Microsoft Windows Font Formats
- Older Macintosh Fonts
- Font Locations
- Font Management Software
- Useful Font Utilities
- Fonts of Mac OS X
- Font Support in Mac OS X
Fonts Supported by Mac OS X
One of the innovations offered by Mac OS X is that it supports many types of font formats. Mac OS X supports tens of thousands of fonts in many different formats. These formats are listed below.
- PostScript
- Adobe PostScript fonts launched desktop publishing and are used for high-quality output to various devices, including laser printers. Each PostScript font requires two files, one for the screen font and one for use by the printer.
- Multiple Master
- This special PostScript font allows variation of one or more font parameters (such as weight) to create a large number of custom styles, also known as instances.
- TrueType
- TrueType fonts are typically used in home and office environments. A single file contains both screen and printer font information. The extension is .ttf.
- OpenType
- OpenType fonts (extension .otf) can contain 65,000 different glyphs, so type can be set in non-Roman languages such as Japanese, Chinese, and Korean.
- OpenType is a new standard for digital type fonts, developed jointly by Adobe and Microsoft. An OpenType font is a single file, which can be used on both Macintosh and Windows platforms without conversion. OpenType fonts have many advantages over previous font formats because they contain more glyphs, support more languages and support rich typographic features such as small caps, old style figures, and ligatures — all in a single font.
- OpenType layout allows you to access features such as old style figures or true small caps by simply applying formatting to text. In most applications that do not actively support such features, OpenType fonts work just like other fonts, although the OpenType layout features are not accessible.
Microsoft Windows Font Formats
Mac OS X also works with font formats used by Microsoft Windows. Mac OS X works with these font formats:
- TrueType fonts (with the extension .ttf)
- TrueType collections (with the extension .ttc)
- OpenType fonts (with the extension .otf).
Older Macintosh Fonts
Font suitcases used by Mac OS 9 and earlier continue to work with Mac OS X. No revision or conversion is necessary.
Font Locations
These are the locations you may place fonts in Mac OS X.
| Font Use | Font Folder | Font Description |
|---|---|---|
| "User" |
~/Library/Fonts/
Note: The tilde character (~) represents a user's Home, which may be local or remote. |
Each user has complete control over the fonts installed in her Home. These fonts are available to that user when she is logged in to the computer. Fonts installed here are not available to all users of the computer. |
| "Local" | /Library/Fonts/ | Any local user of the computer can use fonts installed in this folder. Mac OS X does not require these additional fonts for system operation. An Admin user can modify the contents of this folder. This is the recommended location for fonts that are shared among applications. |
| "Network" | /Network/Library/Fonts/ | The Network folder is for fonts shared among all users of a local area network. This feature is normally used on network file servers, under the control of a network administrator. |
| "System" | /System/Library/Fonts/ | Mac OS X requires fonts in this folder for system use and displays. They should not be altered or removed. |
Font Management Software
To find a free and easy way to manage your fonts, please see this podcast.
Font management software automates activation, organisation and examination of fonts on a Mac. The computers in the class use Suitcase from Extensis. The reason we need this software is that we want many fonts available to us on our computers, while not cluttering the fonts menu. Suitcase allows you to activate only the fonts you want for any specific tasks.
Font management software also examines font files in order to make corrupt ones unavailable. Also it allows you to print catalogues of your fonts.
Useful Font Utilities
- Key Caps-style viewers let you press a key and see the symbol (glyph) corresponding to that key.
- Waterfall-style viewers display “quick brown fox” or other font samples, sometimes for multiple fonts simultaneously.
- Spec sheet printers print a list of fonts along with sample output from each selected font.
- Analysis and repair utilities locate, report, and sometimes repair damaged font files; some utilities can reorganize your fonts alphabetically or by other characteristics.
- Management (activation) utilities such as Font Reserve and Suitcase let you activate and deactivate fonts on demand. Two good resources for font utilities are the Macintosh Products Guide and Version Tracker.
Font Formats
- What is PostScript?
- Adobe PostScript 3 is the worldwide printing and imaging standard. The PostScript programming language was originally developed by Adobe Systems to communicate complex graphic printing instructions to digital printers. It is now built into many laser printers for high-quality rendering of both raster and vector graphics.
- An important feature of the PostScript language is that it is device independent. This means that it produces good-looking images regardless of the resolution or color rendering method of the output device, and it takes full advantage of the capabilities built into the device. The Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) is a more structured, compact subset of the PostScript language. Almost anything that can be done in PostScript can be done in PDF.
- Type 1 fonts are a specialized form of PostScript program and are the original file format used for type display on all PostScript printers. The PostScript language was later extended to provide support for the later TrueType and OpenType font standards. Any new Adobe PostScript language device made today supports all three font standards.
- What is Type 1?
- Adobe PostScript Type 1 is a worldwide standard for digital type fonts. It was first developed by Adobe Systems for use in PostScript printers. Although Adobe is a leader in the design and manufacturing of Type 1 software and maintains the standards for Type 1, hundreds of companies around the world have designed and released more than 30,000 fonts in the Type 1 format.
- The Type 1 font format is recognized on every computer platform, from microcomputers to mainframes. It prints on virtually every printer, either directly through built-in PostScript language interpreting, or through add-on utilities, such as Adobe Type Manager (ATM). ATM technology is integrated into Microsoft Windows 2000 and the Macintosh operating system. For more than a decade, Type 1 has been the preferred format for the graphic arts and publishing industries.
- What is TrueType?
- TrueType is a standard for digital type fonts that was developed by Apple Computer, and subsequently licensed to Microsoft Corporation. Each company has made independent extensions to TrueType, which is used in both Windows and Macintosh operating systems.
- What is OpenType?
- OpenType is a new standard for digital type fonts, developed jointly by Adobe and Microsoft. OpenType fonts can contain either PostScript or TrueType outlines in a common wrapper. An OpenType font is a single file, which can be used on both Macintosh and Windows platforms without conversion. OpenType fonts have many advantages over previous font formats because they contain more glyphs, support more languages and support rich typographic features such as small caps, old style figures, and ligatures — all in a single font.
- Beginning with Adobe InDesign and Adobe Photoshop 6.0, applications have begun to support OpenType layout features. OpenType layout allows you to access features such as old style figures or true small caps by simply applying formatting to text. In most applications that do not actively support such features, OpenType fonts work just like other fonts, although the OpenType layout features are not accessible.
- OpenType with PostScript outlines is supported by the latest versions of Adobe Type Manager, and is natively supported in Windows 2000. Apple supports OpenType, and supplies Japanese system fonts for Mac OS X in OpenType form with PostScript outlines.