Macs don't use file extensions, so sometimes some software will add incorrect ones. Any Mac users know what they are? I suspect they are pointers to where the fonts reside on the designers computer..., but I haven't used Macs in years.
------------------ Bob Darnell London, Ontario, Canada _______________________
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Ted, Maybe you could get the designer to just convert the text to Graphics and send you a file as an ai file, no text. Bill, I have on occasion, just asked them to type out all the letters, and convert to curves and send, then I took them and made my own font with the file. Bill
------------------ Bill & Barbara Biggs Art's Sign Service, Inc. Clute, Texas, USA Home of The Great Texas Mosquito Festival Proud Third year Supporter of the Letterheads Website MailTo:twobeesusa@netscape.net
Posts: 1020 | From: Lake Jackson,Tx | Registered: Nov 1998
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And it's a True Type font TOO!!! That makes life so much easier.
I'm not tooting my own horn here, but the part I played in this font search brought up some interesting points, facts, and warning flares for me... so, I'm gonna share it here. It may help some of you in the future.
The files that Ted sent us are called Data Files thus the .dat at the end. These files are great if they are Data Files that have been exported from an accounting program... then they can be imported into another accounting program with ease. Like going from PeachTree to QuickBooks. If you were to switch from one to the other, exporting Data Files and importing them from one to the other saves you having to manually enter all your items. On a PC. Mac's have .dat extensions too, they just don't show you the extension (.dat) because Mac's are too cool to trouble you with all that stuff. PC's can be altered to "not show extensions" too if you don't want to look at them...
Now, not all Data Files are our friends however... Data files are also created when an attachment cannot be recognized by your e-mail software.
Here's what I think happened (and what does happen)... Joe artist in New York is working on a Mac and sends a file to Ted the SignMaker in CA on his PC. Joe's Mac sends files as an attachment (no matter what they are: fonts, jpg's, Word doc.'s) and "codes" them to travel over the wires... Mime, UUencode, Base 64, the codes are numerous. MOST computers whether be it Mac or PC can take that attachment and unscramble the code and see the attachment just fine... SOME computers cannot.
Here's where the problems begin. Without knowing WHAT codes Joe's sending in or WHAT codes Ted can receive in this attachment can be sent hundreds of times to no avail. The e-mail software holds the key here, not the computer.
So what do you do?
Asking my live-in computer guru about this I have come up with these answers. (If anyone has more, please volunteer them.)
One, you could go back and forth and try each variation until the sender guesses what they receiver can de-code... that is, if you can't find where the "code" description is located in the receivers e-mail software.
Or two, these artists USUALLY have a website, which means they have an FTP site as well. They can just drop it on their site in an unlinked unadvertised page and you can download it. Done. ...IF they don't have a website, and they have an e-mail address (a real one, not yahoo@hotmail.com) then they DO have web space to post to, but then... if they don't know that, then you're basically telling them they are an idiot and that really pisses people off.
So now what? e-mail me and I'll tell you how to find your "Code" whether you are Mac or PC... I'm bi-platform. heh heh heh then you can tell the sender what "code" to send it in.
Now to be technical here it's actually the e-mail software that you are using, NOT the computer. AND... Mac users can specify "PC" when sending attachments in their e-mail and that alone can solve 75% of the Mac/PC problems. But we all aren't created equal... meaning I have many "graphic artists" that don't know their... well, you get the idea, eh? And there's nothing you can do to help them.
Now I told you that story to tell you this one... (don't gripe at the length of my post... print it and read it in your office )
True Type fonts and Type 1 fonts. (In "English" and yet more humor)
When fonts are sent to you in two parts they are Type 1 fonts. These are the "real fonts" the ones that cost $25+ EACH. One file is for the screen view... so your monitor can "see" what you are typing, and the other file is for your printer... so the printer doesn't send it out looking like last weeks crossword puzzle you didn't finish. (bitmapped) ...or worse.
True Type fonts are one file and you can either buy a hundred or more for a $1 ~or~ you can get them for FREE on 1000's of websites like the one Sam posted. True Type fonts are cool, they work for a lot of things including most sign programs (now). What they aren't cool for is printed media. When you send digital files to a press/print shop and he sends it to a Post Script Printer (Mac's use Post Script printers, but even that's changed... I think, recently... didn't pay enough attention to that fact- ANYway) these Post Script printers want Type 1 fonts bad... when they get True Type fonts they do ALL kinds of chaos to the designs and make the file look like my 5 year old created it. It's not pretty when someone just paid you to have their cards printed "YESTERDAY" and this happens.
So when a Mac user sends a font, it's "usually" a Type 1 font and is two parts and it is expensive and they are less willing to part with it and you won't find them for "free" unless you are on Underground web sites and... here's the kicker, on a PC you need a Font Manager program to get them to work. (Unless you have Windows 2000- which is Windows NT's upgrade, not the Windows Me, which is the workstation upgrade from Windows 98) Adobe makes a Font Manager Program to sell with their 250 Type 1 fonts that is going for a mere $9,000. (That's not a typo check out their site.) There are other Font Mangers out there that you can probably download for free... Adobe is just the one I know about.
Ok, I'm done for now. This is what I have learned and I share it with you... please correct me if I'm wrong any where in here. I do like to know the truth... in english though.
The I love a challenge side of the Moon
...and that's what these font finding expeditions are... a FUN challenge! (never at a loss for words! LOL)
------------------ The Moon aka: Stefenie Harris Moonlight Designs Pollock Pines, CA learnin' somethin' new every day!
Posts: 550 | From: Pollock Pines, CA, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Stefenie, I went to properties on a posted message sent here to my home from work and found that it was sent using Mime 1.0 code.... I went to encoding info in Help menu and it didn't give me that as a choice of receiving here at home. Obviously I was in the wrong settings. Western European was my logical choice on code where I was looking. Could you define the area to reset to recieve a Mime 1.0 Thanks, Bronzeo
------------------ Jack Davis 1410 Main St Joplin, MO 64801
Posts: 1549 | From: Joplin, MO | Registered: Mar 2000
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It's hard to generalize about which font type is better. I've found (usually the hard way) that while most TT fonts will cut well, the occasional will bite you, and will not scale well, every node in the font will stand out like a sore thumb when cut. I do notice that TT fonts have improved and seem to cause fewer problems than they used to, I've never had a problem with a true type font that I've purchased expressly for signmaking. When given a choice I'll use a Type 1 Font.
Adobe ATM deluxe retails under $100cdn includes 50 fonts. I'm not sure what you were looking at Stephanie, might have been a corporate, multi-license version. Corel actually included a version of Adobe type manager with Coreldraw 5, it was never advertised and you had to look for it but it was there in the fonts directory. Corel still includes 1000+ Type 1 fonts.
Postscript is great, essentially it's a print language/operating system. It insures that a document will always print the same no matter what brand of printer is used, no matter where in the world it is printed. Think of it as pdf (another adobe product) for printers.
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Wow, Steph! I'm outta wind just reading that one! We gotta get you guys to give a talk at a meet sometime! (I'm serious, if you two want to stand up in front of a group of signies and talk for an hour bout fonts, I'm willin to sit and listen and take lots of note.)
Excellent
------------------ Don Coplen aka "SaintPete" Coplen Designs St.Petersburg, FL dcoplen@mindspring.com
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