In best-use, "Screen fonts" are fonts intended to allow the operating
system to draw the display accurately and quickly. (*see below) To this
end, the fonts are bit-mapped. This simply means that the font file
contains information that allows the display driver to light the
appropriate dots on the screen to make the glyphs that are seen as the
letters of the text.
Other font files such as PostScript and TrueType/OpenType contain data
that draws font in terms of mathematically described lines. To use, the
printer employs a "rasterizer" that performs the calculations/transforms
necessary to cause the printer to make the appropriate characters on the
paper. To display on the screen, the appropriate dots on the screen
must be lit. With Windows 3.x and earlier, the Windows screen drivers
could not display Postscript fonts directly. It required a "screen font"
for each installed PostScript font. Adobe supplied a utility with its
Postscript fonts to generate the needed screen fonts for its fonts. This
was done when installing the fonts. if one did not do this, the display
did not match the printed output because the system would use the "best
match" for the display rendering. Later, Adobe Type Manager and other
competing systems (Speedo and Intellifont) was developed. ATM allowed
PostScript fonts to be used by providing a rasterizer that hooked into
the display system. ATM provided the screen display on the fly.
Windows included in its rasterizer the ability to draw TrueType fonts
directly to the screen. However, it was faster to draw the screen with
bit-mapped fonts rather that incurring the time penalty font rasterizing
requires. So, Windows included bit-mapped "screen fonts" for certain
system uses such as dialogue boxes.
At a certain point, in the interest of assuring good print quality,
Microsoft removed from Word the ability to print using screen fonts.
Now, as you probably know, Windows XP and Vista include screen
rasterizers that can use TrueType, PostScript and Open Type fonts
without installing ATM
A side note on printer-resident fonts.
*Some printers, notably PostScript Lasers and PCL Lasers, contain a
certain number of fonts in the printer's ROM. Since Word checks the
printer driver when generating its font list, it will list these fonts
on its menu when the correct printer driver is used. In order to get an
accurate display of text, a "Screen font" must be installed on the
system to match every font that is printer-resident. To this end, many
printer makers distribute a disk of font files. If these fonts are not
installed, the display might not match the print out in appearance or
layout. Somewhat confusingly (at least to me), these fonts are sometimes
called screen fonts even although they are well-formed, well-defined
Postscript or TrueType font files.
Hope this helps. I hope there is enough detail to give some of the
flavor without getting too enmeshed in the complexities of the topic.
Tom
MSMVP
Windows Shell/User
Post by Tony GirgentiHello Suzanne.
Would you mind explaining what a "screen font" is as opposed to any
other font?
Happy New Year.
Thanks,
Tony
Post by Suzanne S. BarnhillUnless the printer manufacturer has supplied screen fonts (often TrueType
versions) for the printer-resident fonts, then no, there is no way to do
this.
--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
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Post by Tony GirgentiHello.
I apologize in advance if this post does not seem to apply to this forum,
but i cannot get an answer elsewhere.
I'm developing a Windows Form program in VS.NET VB, .NET Framework
1.1.4322
Post by Tony Girgention a windows XP Pro, SP2.
Before printing a document, i want to set the font to a font that is only
available with the printer that i am printing to(Zebra TLP2844).
When i open Word and look at the fonts available for the default printer,
it
Post by Tony Girgentidoes not show the fonts i want. If i cahnge the printer to the printer
that
Post by Tony Girgentihas the font that i want, the font i want shows up in the font selections.
This seems to be true for any program that allows me to select a font for
printing (Excel, Notepad, etc.)
Is there a way to take the fonts that i see while in Word and install them
into the system fonts?
Any help would be gratefully appreciated.
Thanks,
Tony