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Q. What does the word “Pro” mean when it’s at the end of a font name? I often see two versions of the same font — one with Pro and one without.
A. The Pro suffix, which is part of some OpenType font naming conventions, means that that font includes expanded foreign language support, usually consisting of at least Central European glyphs. Some Pro fonts contain other languages, such as Greek or Cyrillic; it varies from font to font. While some Pro fonts have additional bells and whistles, such as small caps, swashes, discretionary ligatures, or ornaments, these extras aren’t guaranteed by the Pro designation according to Adobe’s original definition.
While the Pro terminology was coined by Adobe, it’s been adopted and adapted by many major font foundries and resellers, as well as some smaller, independent foundries. One foundry that doesn’t use this terminology is Terminal Design because, according to its principal, James Montalbano, “All of our commercial fonts include Central European characters, so I don’t think it is necessary to call them ‘Pro.’”
Figure 1. Terminal Design’s Giacomo 2.0 contains expanded foreign language support, including Cyrillic, but does not use the Pro suffix.
Adobe and some other foundries will include the suffix “Std” (Standard) in some OpenType fonts to indicate they do not have expanded foreign language support. In fact, many Std (non-Pro) OpenType fonts don’t contain any more glyphs than the PostScript version many of them were converted from. Let the (OpenType) buyer beware.
A number of fonts have been released and then rereleased with additional features. An example of this is Monotype’s Bembo, which is available as the original version in Type1 and TrueType formats, Bembo Std., the first OpenType version, as well as Bembo Pro which contains expanded foreign language support, as well as the addition of small caps, and old style figures.
Read more about OpenType in the following columns:
* Using Expert Characters and Expert Sets
* Opening Up About OpenType
* Spot OpenType Fonts Fast
Love type? Want to know more? Ilene Strizver conducts her acclaimed Gourmet Typography workshops internationally. For more information on attending one or bringing it to your company, organization, or school, go to her site, call The Type Studio at 203-227-5929, or email Ilene at in**@***********io.com. Sign up for her e-newsletter at www.thetypestudio.com.
This article was last modified on January 4, 2022
This article was first published on November 6, 2008
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