display vs text faces

Has anyone considered handling display and text faces differently?

For text fonts I think Bill is right. You need to have a scalable 
format so that the type works in print as well as on screen. The font 
files are bloated as they have to include either hinting information or 
bitmap screen fonts. I can't see a problem with a format such as 
TrueType for text, (except getting the same font file to work on 
multiple platforms)

But for display text (anything over HTML font size=7) perhaps a 
different approach would be more suitable. The great thing about using 
bitmaps for display typography, such as titles and logos, is that you 
can perform all manner of digital jiggery-pokery on them using 
Photoshop etc. The bad thing is that they don't print out very well.

Perhaps a vector format like eps should be used... Display typography 
which is resolution independent, scalable, can be multi coloured and 
with no complicated copyright issues associated with distributing fonts 
that can be downloaded and reused elsewhere. Perhaps Adobe could be 
persuaded to release the rasterizing/ antialiasing routines from 
PhotoShop for inclusion in browsers.


Simon Daniels (i-simond@microsoft.com)

these views are my own and no not necessarily reflect those of my employer etc.

Received on Thursday, 25 January 1996 15:42:44 UTC