Re: cross platform fonts

Lori:

While fonts may technically be the same, the chance for any given font
displaying exactly the same on both platforms is highly unlikely.

It's not so much the font--a font is a font, is a font. There are more than
one type of fonts. True Type and "Postscript", (Adobe type 1, etc.) as well
as Bitstream and several others.

As far as I am aware, every type of font is available--with proper
software--on both platforms. However, the monitors are usually different.
And to make matters worse, different monitors and/or resolutions display
different, even on the same platform.

While it is very true that either platform may allow a printer to print a 12
point font that is in fact 12 points on paper, the display on the various
screens may be quite different.

I know that it is often suggested that certain fonts are for certain
operating systems but this just isn't so. The confusion started perhaps
because there are a few fonts that are included with a new machine. Windows
for example, comes with several. However, these same fonts can be used on a
Mac.

The opposite is also true. The "print publication" people do this all the
time although there still are a few "pre-press" shops still requiring one
kind or another. (Usually Postscript.) Even this is rapidly changing as the
pressure of a broader client base has forced more and more publishers /
printers / etc. to accept their customer's fonts.

In web work, the bottom line continues to be, choosing a font that most
computers will have. If the computer does not have it, it can't display it.
At this point, without using embedded font technology, the best way is still
probably, to either let the browser make the choice or give a number of
alternatives in font statements.

Example: Arial, Helvetica, Helios, Swiss, Futuri. All the same basic font
from different font foundries.

As they say, building web pages, ain't for sissies.
Best wishes
Ted Temer
Temercraft Designs Redding, CA
temer(at)c-zone.net
www.temercraft.com/
www.newsredding.com/


> Hi All,
>
> Could someone give me a list of cross platform fonts please, i.e., fonts
that will display exactly the same on a Mac as well as a PC?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Lori
>
>
>

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