Specifying Fonts

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Specifying Fonts

Smart Characters for Windows uniquely specifies font according to their typeface(4- 11), unique symbol set ID(8- 4), point size(D- - 6) and style (e.g., weight, italics). The Student version(D- - 8) uses the concept of font family name(D- - 3) to combine these characteristics.

Unique Symbol Set ID

The unique symbol set ID is a number from 0 to 65000 used by Smart Characters to uniquely identify a symbol set(D- - 7).

Standard Fonts (Contact Apropos for details) 0- 199 Ideographic (e.g. Chinese) Character Sets. 200- 399 English and Typographic Alphabetic Sets. 400- 599 Non-English (e.g. Asian) Alphabetic Sets. 600- 799 Other Sets (Strokes, Radicals(D- - 6)). 800-989 Reserved. User Fonts 990- 998 Local font IDs for Student version 2.9 local fonts. 999 Proxy font(D- - 6) ID (automatically assigned). 1000- 1999 Apropos user font(4- 12). 2000- 2999 User's Group(D- - 8) user font numbers. 3000- 9999 Departmental user. Call Apropos Customer Service(G1) for a unique ID in this range. Enter the number in the Scw.ini User Characters(B- - 5) section Group Symbol Set entry. 10000-65000 Personal and project user. In most cases, Smart Characters assign numbers in this range. See Create User Font(3- 45).

Font File Name

A font file name is the DOS file name for a font file. To name user font(4- 12) files that you create, see the discussion under Create User Font(3- 45).

Font File Type

The font file type is the description Smart Characters uses to identify a font file format(8- 5). The commonly used types are:

Any Bitmap also known as type 0, is an untyped fixed cell size font. This type allows Smart Characters to interface with most bitmap fonts(8- 5), regardless of their font file format. Instead of using configuration information stored in the font file, untyped fonts are installed according to information stored in the Smart Characters configuration file. The necessary Smart Characters configuration entry is created by the Install Bitmap Font(3- 43) dialog. Proxy also known as type 11, is a fixed cell size bitmap font containing a fixed number of characters and including a font header specifying symbol set concordance(D- - 2) data. Used by a proxy font(D- - 6). Windows is a bitmap file format used by Windows(D- - 8) .fnt font files. TrueType TrueType(D- - 8) is a scalable typeface(D- - 7) used by the Windows and Macintosh operating systems.

Font File Format

There are two basic font formats: bitmap fonts(8- 5) and scalable typefaces(D- - 7). Smart Characters English and notes text objects(4- 1) use the installed Windows(D- - 8) TrueType fonts. Other object type(4- 2) use bitmap fonts. The optional accessory DoubleByte TrueType Font Interface(13- 1) renders these objects using Asian language TrueType(D- - 8) fonts.

Bitmap Fonts

Bitmap fonts have parameters that specify the resolution, the exact method of data storage, and other parameters. These parameters are selectable within Smart Characters, allowing you to edit virtually any bitmap font.

Bitmap fonts come in two types: fixed width fonts assume that each character is of the same size, while variable width fonts contain characters of different sizes (Chinese characters are all the same width). Variable width fonts come in various different formats (e.g. Hewlett Packard LaserJet SFO). Smart Characters works with fixed width fonts only.

Need more info? Go to the Customer Service Page. Questions or comments? E-mail to Apropos Customer Service

Apropos Customer Service home page 617-648-2041
Last Modified: March 23, 1996