WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BITMAP FONTS, PIXEL FONTS, TRUETYPE FONTS, POSTSCRIPT FONTS, AND OPENTYPE FONTS

TrueType Fonts (.ttf)

The benefit of Truetype fonts is that all versions of Windows support TrueType fonts as a standard. Although TrueType is also compatible with Apple Macs, a separate TrueType font file must be created in order to run on a Mac properly. It is very simple for PC users to install TrueType fonts. In fact, all that a designer needs to do is download the font, unzip it, and then drag and drop that font into the \Windows\Fonts folder. It really can’t get any simpler than that. However, there are some down sides to TrueType fonts, such as causing problems at Service Bureaus. There are two reasons why TrueType fonts cause problems with printers and Service Bureaus. First of all, Truetype Fonts are great on your monitor because the font is installed on your computer. However, if that same exact font is not installed on your printer, than your printed page may differ from how that same page looked on your monitor. Another reason that TrueType fonts cause printing problems is that they were only designed to print up to 600 dpi, which is the dpi of an average desktop laser printer. However, Service Bureaus normally print documents at 12000 - 2400 dpi. If you try to print your TrueType fonts on the Service Bureaus 12000 dpi printer, the results will be fuzzy fonts that might be difficult to read.

Postscript Type 1 Fonts / ATM (.ps)

PostScript font technology makes it possible to scale fonts. Postscript’s Scalability option allows all point sizes from that font to be created without losing any font quality. One of the reasons that Postscript fonts are preferred to TrueType fonts is that your printer doesn’t need the equivalent font installed in order to print your documents correctly. Also, Postscript Type 1 fonts are designed to print at 2400 dpi which creates a smooth, crisp font when printed. There are a lot fewer problems when taking a file to the service bureau when using PostScript fonts than there are when using Truetype fonts. However, with older versions of Windows, you will need an extra program called Adobe Type Manager (ATM ) in order to use Postscript fonts.

TrueType fonts very easy to use, however, Postscript Fonts create nothing but headaches. As we speak, many ex-designers are probably sitting in Psychiatric Wards mumbling and ranting about font problems. I exaggerate a bit, but I kid you not when I say that Postscript Fonts are a headache. One of the reasons that there are so many problems with Postscript font management is because every Adobe program has a separate folder for their fonts. This means that you need to install your fonts in every Adobe application folder, otherwise you will have fonts missing and font substitution problems. I feel my teeth grinding and my blood pressure going crazy as I write about PS fonts. I recommend purchasing a font manager such as Suitcase to help you handle font installation and management. We will cover more about this topic in another blog.

Bitmap Fonts (.bdf)

Bitmapped fonts are made up of a matrix of dots (pixels). The bitmap for each character indicates precisely what pixels should be on and off. When a Bitmap font is printed, it is literally just printing the pixels that were left on and only prints 75 dpi. With this particular approach to fonts, resizing a font can create significant quality loss and the fonts might appear pixelized or jaggedy (my own word invention). However, one benefit is that shading and color filling is easier to do with Bitmapped Fonts (although I never use them). With the invention of Truetype fonts,Postscript Type 1 fonts, and OpenType fonts, there are not many uses of Bitmapped fonts. They are fine to use on the web, but awful for printing. Never use Bitmapped fonts when sending a file to print.

OpenType Fonts (.otf)

Adobe and Microsoft developed the OpenType font that combines Postscript and Truetype fonts together. Basically OpenType fonts are really TrueType fonts that include Postscript data. The wonderful thing about OpenType fonts is that they work on both Macs as well as PCs. OpenType font technology offers extended character sets and typographic controls. And just like the TrueType font, each OpenType font includes bitmap, metric, and outline data. But the best part of OpenType fonts is that they install much easier than Postscript Type 1 fonts. Additionally, Since OpenType works with both Macs and PCs, and they include Postscript Data, you won’t have the same problems that TrueType fonts have with service bureaus and printers. However, be careful, some applications such as QuarkXpress, have not been coded for OpenType compatibility yet so there might still be some problems using OpenType fonts.

Pixel Fonts (.ttf)

Pixel fonts were designed to be used on Websites and Multimedia Interfaces, and that is why they are also called ’small screen fonts.’ Although they are in TrueType format for both Macs and PCs, they are optimized for screen usage. However, make sure that you don’t change the size of Pixel fonts or they will distort. Pixel fonts were primarily used on Macromedia Flash until the release of Flash 8. Until the release of version 8, Pixel fonts had the advantages over other font types because Pixel fonts didn’t blur, whereas other fonts did. However now the opposite is true. According to Macromedia: