QuickDraw GX: Differentiating Various Font Types (8/95)


How do you identify which font suitcases contain scalable postscript fonts and which contain scalable TrueType fonts when using QuickDraw GX?

When using QuickDraw GX, all fonts (including TrueType and PostScript) are stored in suitcase files inside the Fonts folder. On opening a suitcase with either TrueType, or PostScript fonts, you should see two types of fonts files listed -- bitmapped and scalable.

You can identify the different fonts by comparing the icons for the files. A bitmap font file has an icon with one "A" on it, while a scalable font file has an icon with three superimposed "A"s on it. A scalable font can be either a PostScript font or a TrueType font.

Unfortunately, from the Finder, there is no easy way to tell if a particular scalable font is TrueType or PostScript. The Finder lists both types of scalable fonts as "font".

There are two ways to tell the difference. One way is to open a copy of the font suitcase using ResEdit. Open the SFNT resource. The first four characters are typ1 if the font resource contains PostScript data; otherwise, it is a TrueType font.

A second way to determine whether the font is a PostScript font is to enable ATM GX (via the ATM GX Control Panel) and open the font in question. If the text on the screen is not smooth, it is a PostScript font.


This article was published in the "Information Alley":
Volume II, Issue 2, Page 14


Article Change History:
07 Aug 1995 - Made minor corrections.
18 May 1995 - Minor updates; added Info Alley information.
16 Feb 1995 - Reviewed for accuracy and changed keyword.

Support Information Services
Published Date: Feb 19, 2012