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From: davidgl@microsoft.com (David Glenn)
Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.apps,comp.os.ms-windows.misc,comp.fonts
Subject: Re: ATM or Truetype-which to choose?
Message-ID: <1993Apr06.023730.5094@microsoft.com>
Date: 6 Apr 93 02:37:30 GMT
Article-I.D.: microsof.1993Apr06.023730.5094
References: <C4tDGt.Mqq@csn.org> <1ov6rj$gev@gabriel.keele.ac.uk>
Distribution: usa
Organization: Microsoft Corp.
Lines: 54

In article <C4tDGt.Mqq@csn.org> rjn@teal.csn.org wrote:
> csd25@keele.ac.uk (C.M. Yearsley) writes:
> 
> : I've just bought a PC which came with a bundle of Lotus stuff, including
> : Adobe Type Manager version 1.15. As a newcomer to Windows, I'm
> : confused about which I should be using, ATM or Truetype. 
> 
> If you are going to stay with ATM, be sure to upgrade to 2.5, which
> replaces 2.0. Who knows how old 1.15 is.  2.5 is as fast as TT, and if
> you disable the small screen fonts, ATM does better screen rendering at
> the smaller point sizes.

Not true! Both Type 1 and TT fonts can be of excellent quality and poor quality
at any size. It all depends on the font's maker and the complexity of the glyphs
related to the size and resolution at which they are viewed. Probably the reason
for your opinion/experience that TT is inferior is because most TT fonts on the
market today have been converted from Type 1 outlines to TT either by the font
vendor or end-users using Fontographer or FontMonger instead of the TT fonts being
hand-hinted to take advantage of the TT hinting language. At best these converted
TT fonts will be on a par with the Type 1 font of its orgin.

TrueType is a much richer and more robust hinting language than Type 1 (the hinting
of diagonals for instance, which TT does and Type 1 cannot). If you check out the
Windows 3.1 core fonts (Times, Arial, Courier, Symbol, Wingdings) you'll see what can
be done with TT. There are other fonts out there that have been hand-hinted and not
just converted. Some of the Microsoft TT Font Pack 2 fonts are hinted very well.

> You can use both TT and ATM fonts at the same time, if you like.
> ATM (Type 1) fonts tend to be of higher quality
> and be more complete in terms of foreign characters.

Again, not true. The characters in a TT or Type 1 font depend on the maker. If someone
converts a Type 1 font to TT they'll only get the characters in the font of orgin. TT
allows for much more flexibility in this area as well. You can have thousands of glyphs
in a TT font file (Mac/PS/Windows/Unicode char set) and use the characters appropriate
for the particular platform you are running the font on. For instance, all or our fontpack
2 TT fonts have the Mac/Windows char set in them. The metrics of the fonts are such that
if the font is brought over to the mac the user will have access to the full mac char set.


> Regards,                                            1001-A East Harmony Road
> Bob Niland                                          Suite 503
> Internet:  rjn@csn.org                              Fort Collins CO 80525
> CompuServe: 71044,2124                              (303) 223-5209

Hope this clears up some of the confusion. Feel free to contact me if anyone would like
more info.

Regards,

Dave Glenn
Program Manager, Microsoft TT font stuff
davidgl@microsoft.com
compuserve: 72420,1067
