Re: Open Type versus Type 1 fonts

[Dov Isaacs <isaacs@xxxxxxxxx>]

At 1/29/2003 12:36 PM, Mitchell, Sue wrote:
>We are in the process of purchasing some new fonts - the question is do we
>need to purchase Type 1 fonts to produce PDF & PRN or can we purchase Open
>Type fonts. From what I have read, Open Type are a subset of Type 1 and True
>Type and are compatible with all OS's, can be embedded in PDFs, don't
>conflict with other fonts that are Type 1 etc....
>
>Just thought I would ask if anyone out there has had experience using these
>fonts and whether there is something I am missing...
>
>Source files are distilled on W2K and NT, using Frame 7 and Distiller 5
>Output PDFs are viewed on all Windows and UNIX platforms
>
>Thanks
>
>Sue



Sue,

Let me respond with a somewhat workflow-backwards approach.

First of all, once a PDF file is created using an OpenType font, the
embedded font is not really any different than what we conventionally
refer to as Type 1 and TrueType fonts. In fact, when looking at the
font data via Acrobat, you have no way of knowing that the origin was
OpenType. Thus, once within PDF, the OpenType fonts behave just as
Type 1 and TrueType (Type 42) do, viewable and printable everywhere.
It is key that you embed the fonts (subsetted).

Secondly, for use in applications other than Acrobat, Illustrator,
Photoshop, and InDesign (all of which have fully built-in font support
for all formats, regardless of OS), OpenType fonts are natively supported
under Windows 2000, Windows XP, and MacOS X. With ATM 4.1, they are 
supported under Windows'95, Windows'98, Windows Me, and Windows NT 4. 
With ATM 4.6 or higher, they are supported under MacOS 9.x and earlier.

Third, OpenType fonts are NOT a SUBSET of Type 1 or TrueType. They are
a SUPERSET, containing features well beyond what either format originally
had. A single typeface may have not only Western Latin characters, but also
characters for other alphabets plus alternative characters (swash, small 
caps, lower case numerals, proportional numerals), ligature characters,
symbols, and extensive formatting information for OpenType-savvy applications
to use to automatically access, place, and space the alternate characters.
OpenType fonts are really the ONLY fonts really suited for Unicode-savvy
applications.

Fourth, in terms of naming conventions, at least with the Adobe OpenType
fonts, there are absolutely NO collisions between the names of the Type 1
fonts and the corresponding OpenType fonts. This is good news and bad news
from the point of view that you absolutely cannot simply uninstall a Type 1
font and install its corresponding OpenType font and have documents
automatically use the OpenType font. The reason we didn't use the same
names is that although we endeavored to keep the same font metrics and
would NOT expect reflow when using the new fonts, we could not guarantee
that absolutely no layout changes would occur with the new fonts. Furthermore,
since the character sets are enlarged with the OpenType fonts, if you went
"backwards" from OpenType to Type 1 with the same font name, you could end
up with undefined characters. And of course, with the same font names, there
would be no end to the confusion with the OS and even with Adobe applications
as to which face to use if the font file names were different but the font
name itself was duplicated. (Mac users are used to this with the mishagoss of
Apple installing their own incompatible TrueType Helvetica, Times, Courier,
Palatino, and Zapf Dingbat fonts with names duplicating those of Adobe Type 1
fonts.)

Finally, with regards to application use, this is the only area that you really
need to potentially concern yourself with. Let's take some specific instances:

(1) Symbol fonts. You cannot use the OpenType equivalents of ITC Zapf Dingbats,
Carta, Sonata, Wood Type Ornaments, Universal News with Commercial Pi, etc. with
FrameMaker (or even the current version of Illustrator) because all the characters
are mapped to Unicode points that are inaccessible to FrameMaker. The same is
true for any other non-Unicode-savvy programs. These characters in OpenType fonts
are accessible with Photoshop and InDesign on all platforms, Microsoft Office 
applications under Windows, and other Unicode-savvy applications.

(2) International Characters. Beyond "western latin" alphabetic characters, you
will not have much if any support for OpenType character fonts in non-Unicode-
savvy applications as described in (1) above.

(3) Expert Sets. If you are currently accessing small caps, lower case numeral,
and/or swash characters via "expert set" faces in Adobe's (and other vendors')
Type 1 font families (such as Adobe Garmond), you cannot use the OpenType
equivalent fonts with non-OpenType/Unicode-savvy programs such as FrameMaker.
Those special characters have been merged into the "base" fonts and must be
accessed in a special manner. And even if you do have such an application,
the mapping is very different between the Type 1 expert face and the OpenType
font.

All in all, OpenType fonts is where the industry is headed. The operating system
and print driver support is there. The remaining problem in some cases, including
that of FrameMaker, is lack of application support beyond that of "seeing" the
Western Latin characters within such fonts.

        - Dov


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