*** From the Archives ***

This article is from January 23, 2005, and is no longer current.

It Takes All Types

Before you begin managing fonts, it helps to understand the different font types. Let’s look at the types available for Mac OS X and Windows XP/Vista and learn how you can identify them.
PostScript Type 1
PostScript Type 1 fonts come in two versions: one for Mac and one for Windows. Type 1 fonts are not cross-platform.
For years, PostScript Type 1 fonts were the standard for professionals in the creative, print, and publishing fields. Many high-end output devices, such as laser printers, film and plate output systems, and proofers, use the PostScript language to process the print job at the device rather than in the computer.
For these fonts to work properly on your system, you must have separate yet related font files in the same folder: one for bitmap (or screen) information and the other for outline (or printer) information. In Mac OS X, the screen information is in a font suitcase and the printer information is in a separate printer file. The suitcase icon containing the bitmap information has the FFIL extension, and the file with the outline (or printer) information has the LWFN extension.


Windows PostScript Type 1 fonts work only in Windows, not on a Mac. The two files you must keep together for Windows PostScript Type 1 are the .PFM and .PFB files. The .PFM file contains the printer outline information, and the .PFB file has the measurement (or metrics) information.




If these font files become separated in either Mac OS X or Windows XP/Vista, any documents that use them won’t display or output the characters correctly. This is where font management becomes very important.
TrueType
Unlike PostScript Type 1 fonts, TrueType contains all of the bitmap (or screen) information and all of the outline (or printer) information in one single font suitcase (Mac) or TTF file (Windows). This single container also holds font metrics, or sizing information. Having all of this information in one container makes TrueType fonts easier to manage; however, some people believe that the limited metrics can cause problems when outputting to a PostScript output device, such as a direct-to-plate or direct-to-film system. That’s why many print designers prefer to use PostScript fonts over TrueType.
There are two types of TrueType fonts: Mac TrueType and Windows TrueType. When viewing Mac TrueType fonts in the Mac OS X system folders, the TrueType suitcase icon appears the same as the PostScript suitcase icon. The only way to tell whether a font suitcase is TrueType is to use a font manager, such as Suitcase by Extensis or Font Agent Pro by Insider Software.
Mac TrueType fonts work only on a Mac. Windows TrueType fonts, on the other hand, work on both platforms. You can identify a Windows TrueType font on a Mac by the TTF extension displayed in the icon. In Windows XP/Vista, all Windows TrueType fonts display the .TTF extension.

Windows TTF icon

Windows TTF icon in Mac OS X
The fact that you can use TTF or Windows TrueType fonts on both platforms makes them a type of limited cross-platform font. But for better cross-platform functionality, it’s best to use OpenType fonts.
OpenType
OpenType is quickly becoming the new standard for creative professionals; it’s also the only true cross-platform font type.
The OpenType font icon in Mac OS X displays the OTF extension. In Windows XP/Vista, the icon displays the OpenType symbol, which is the black and green italic O.

Mac OpenType icon

Windows OpenType icon
The OpenType format was co-developed by Adobe and Microsoft. Their mission was to create a font type that displays and outputs the same whether you’re working on a Mac or a Windows machine. These fonts do just that, and they also carry far more information than their TrueType and PostScript counterparts, including ligatures, true fractions, symbols, and multiple languages. All of the applications in the Adobe Creative Suite and Creative Suite 2 are fully OpenType compatible, giving you access to all of these extra characters. With version 7, QuarkXPress 7 became fully OpenType-compatible, as well.
Although OpenType is cross-platform, it comes in two flavors: TrueType and PostScript. Before you buy an OpenType font, make sure it’s the kind you want. The TrueType flavor of an OpenType font usually has a TTF extension and is most suitable where high screen quality and good multilingual support are necessary. Most OpenType fonts, however, are PostScript-based, and are better suited for prepress and publishing use.
dFont
With Mac OS X, Apple introduced yet another font type, referred to as dFont.
dFont stands for “Datafork TrueType font.” It’s basically a TrueType font repackaged in a data fork file rather than the resource fork files used in Mac OS 9.
You can identify dFonts on your system by the DFONT extension displayed in the file icon, as shown below. These fonts reside in your System > Library > Fonts folder and are intended for system use only. They are not compatible with Windows. I don’t recommend that you use dFonts in professional creative, print, and publishing environments.

Multiple Master
Multiple Master fonts are a special type of PostScript that Adobe developed and then abandoned in favor of OpenType.
Multiple Master fonts contain lots of the information for varying degrees of boldness, thickness, extension, and obliqueness. The result is a font family that virtually fills up your application font menus with a huge amount of styles. Although these fonts are no longer being developed, there are quite a few in existence and you can still use them.
Because they’re basically PostScript Type 1 fonts on steroids, you must place Multiple Master suitcase and printer font files in the same folder for them to display and output properly. In Mac OS X, their icons look exactly like PostScript Type 1 icons, using the FFIL and LWFN extensions.
Multiple Master fonts have been known to cause problems, so I recommend that you don’t use them in a professional creative environment. If you depend on them for specific jobs, consider replacing them, or try converting them to PostScript Type 1 or OpenType using FontLab’s TransType Pro.
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Ted Locasio is a professional graphic designer and an expert in Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, InDesign, Illustrator, and QuarkXPress. He served as senior designer at KW Media and the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) for several years, and has created layouts and designs for many successful software training books, videos, and magazines. He is the author of InDesign CS2 at Your Fingertips, The InDesign Effects Book, and Combining Images with Photoshop Elements. He has contributed articles to Photoshop User magazine, InDesign magazine, Creativepro.com and has taught at PhotoshopWorld. Ted is also the video author of InDesign CS2 Essential Training, Font Management, Illustrator CS2 Creative Techniques, and Creative Suite 2 Integration: Print Project Workflow--all available at Lynda.com. He also teaches a Digital Graphics course at St. Petersburg College, in Seminole FL.
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