The first thing we learn about in chapter 6 is the font format PostScript. In the early days of fonts, Postscript was the main font format used, because early RIPs crashed when they tried to take on TrueType fonts. This is no longer the case. Postscript consists of two files: a bitmap screen font and a printer component that holds instructions on printing the font. You should never delete one or the other off of your computer thinking that you only need one for the font to function.
Truetype consists of a single file. As mentioned earlier, they are now able to be read by RIPs, so there is no need to worry about whether you are using Truetype or Postscript.
Opentype fonts are single-file fonts like Truetype. They do not have separate screen and printer fonts. The plus about Opentype is that it is cross platform, meaing the same font file cam be used on a Mac or PC. Opentype fonts can contain as many as 65,000 glyphs, whereas Postscript can only have up to 256 characters.
A font family is a collection of fonts that all have the same characteristics as the others. Examples of these include Helvetica, Arial, Georgia and Garamond. Each of these families have characters that look similar to the other characters in their family.
Glyphs are any distinct letterform, such asa lowercase b, a number, or an ampersand. This opens up possibilties to a fon designer to be able to include a number of different things in one font. It used to be that separate titling sets had to be saved separately, but not anymore.
dfonts are Macintosh OS X System fonts that are Truetype fonts underneath it all. These fonts are data only. They are hard to distiguish from the Postcript fonts that are named the same. If you want to use Postscript instead of the dfonts that are automatically default, you have to be able to activate or deactivate them yourself. dfonts also don't not work on OS 9 systems because they are not recognized as fonts.
Multiple Master fonts were introduced by Adobe and allow users to apply different effects to them such as multiple weights, widths and angles. It isn't used much today because people don't know much about them, but they are still used today for display and printing when fonts are missing in a PDF. They are also used whem fonts are not available for display in InDesign or Illustrator.
End User Agreements (or EULAs) are attached to fonts that you purchase to use. Most of the agreements attached to fonts allow for the same font file to be used on several workstations and one or two printing devices. If you are wanting to send you files off to be printed by another print provider, both you and the printer have to own the fonts for the font to be printed legally. Converting text to outlines may get rid of the hinting for the fonts, but that doesn't mean you're getting around the EULAs.
When it comes to file naming, do not use punctuation at all. Letters, numerals, spaces, underscores and hyphens are allowed to be used in file naming. If you are naming files for the Web, you should avoid using spaces, because the space will be replaced with "%20." Colons and slashes may be allowed to be used in Mac OS, but avoid using them for they will not be allowed to be copied over to Windows. You should also avoid slashes because when you send files to a print provider, they will most likely copy your files over to a server to store, and you could mess up all of your files if you had not named them safely.
Extensions are not required by all Mac systems, but you should always use them. They help you identify files quickly. Most file names consist of three letters, such as .tif, .pdf and .eps. Some have longer extensions like .html. A period always separates the name of the file and the extension.
Formats that can cross platforms include Opentype fonts, and graphic format files. These include TIFF, PSD, EPS, AI, and JPEG. You don't have to worry about converting them, and you can use them wherever!
Sources:
McCue, Claudia. Real World Print Production with Adobe Creative Suite Applications. Berkeley, CA: Peachpit, 2009. Print.
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