Monospaced typeface

Monospaced typeface

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

I've been fiddling a bit with the LaTeX Gnus manual --
<URL:http://www.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/www.gnus.org/documents/> should have
the latest results.  (I still haven't fixed those chapter Gnus herds.)

This version uses a 12 point face, which is too big, I think.  It
looks nice, but the manual ends up being 300 pages, which is too
much.  10 point, perhaps?  What's the norm?

I've switched to Bembo on the main text and Futura for
functions/variables/keystrokes/etc.  Looks ok, I think.  The one thing
I don't like is the face used for the examples, which is that LaTeX
typewriter face.  We may need a monospaced font, but isn't there
anything that looks nicer than that one?

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  larsi@ifi.uio.no * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: Monospaced typeface

[Scott Byer]

Stainless Steel Rat writes:

Lars> This version uses a 12 point face, which is too big, I think.  It
Lars> looks nice, but the manual ends up being 300 pages, which is too much.
Lars> 10 point, perhaps?  What's the norm?

Rat> Book printing tends to be a 12 point Times Roman or similar face
Rat> (Palatino, Bookman, Schoolbook, etc).  But if you stick with Times
Rat> Roman (CMR -- an especially readable font) you can get down to 9-10
Rat> point and remain readable.  Anything smaller than that becomes a
Rat> problem for general reading.

Note that Times-Roman is small for it's size; a 12 point Times-Roman is
often equivalent bit-size-wise to many 11-point typefaces.

For monospaced, I prefer Lucida Typewriter (it's what I run Emacs with).
It's not as clunky as Courier.


-- 
Scott Byer, Senior Computer Scientist                   mailto:byer@adobe.com
Adobe Systems Incorporated, Mailstop W10           These are my opinions, and
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Re: Monospaced typeface

[Christopher Davis]

SB> == Scott Byer <byer@Adobe.COM>

 SB> For monospaced, I prefer Lucida Typewriter (it's what I run Emacs
 SB> with).  It's not as clunky as Courier.

I like it, too, but there's no oblique/italic version!  This is a major
drawback when you use both colors and font styles for marking various
types of text in XEmacs.

Re: Monospaced typeface

[Scott Byer]

Christopher Davis writes:

ckd> I like it, too, but there's no oblique/italic version!  This is a major
ckd> drawback when you use both colors and font styles for marking various
ckd> types of text in XEmacs.

Sure there is!  Maybe not in pre-rasterized bitmap form, but certainly in
Type 1 format.  I'm using them now...


-- 
Scott Byer, Senior Computer Scientist                   mailto:byer@adobe.com
Adobe Systems Incorporated, Mailstop W10           These are my opinions, and
345 Park Avenue                                    do not necessarily reflect
San Jose, CA 95110-9704                          the opinions of my employer.
--------- 56 bits is not enough.  Visit http://rc5.distributed.net/ ---------

Re: Monospaced typeface

[John McClary Prevost]

>>>>> "sb" == Scott Byer <byer@Adobe.COM> writes:
>>>>> "ckd" == Christopher Davis writes:

         { ... regarding lucida typewriter ... }

    ckd> I like it, too, but there's no oblique/italic version!  This
    ckd> is a major drawback when you use both colors and font styles
    ckd> for marking various types of text in XEmacs.

I find that courier oblique is quite reasonable (and, in fact, I
believe it to be quite a bit more readable than either courier or
courier italic.)

    sb> Sure there is!  Maybe not in pre-rasterized bitmap form, but
    sb> certainly in Type 1 format.  I'm using them now...

I haven't seen them in my X setup, but maybe I just don't know how to
request them.  Any hints?  ;>

John.

Re: Monospaced typeface

[Aaron M. Ucko]

Christopher Davis <ckd@loiosh.kei.com> writes:

> SB> == Scott Byer <byer@Adobe.COM>
> 
>  SB> For monospaced, I prefer Lucida Typewriter (it's what I run Emacs
>  SB> with).  It's not as clunky as Courier.
> 
> I like it, too, but there's no oblique/italic version!  This is a major
> drawback when you use both colors and font styles for marking various
> types of text in XEmacs.

I actually wrote a program to obliquify a BDF font so that I could use 
Emacs with 6x13 (-misc-fixed-...) and still get italics.  You can use
it if you want; it should be accessible at
<URL:http://web.mit.edu/amu/scripts/slantbdf.pl>.

-- 
Aaron M. Ucko (amu@mit.edu) | For Geek Code, PGP public key, and other info,
finger amu@monk.mit.edu. | "Kids! Bringing about Armageddon can be dangerous.
Do not attempt it in your home." -- T. Pratchett & N. Gaiman, _Good Omens_

Re: Monospaced typeface

[Danny Siu]

Christopher Davis writes:

  SB> == Scott Byer <byer@Adobe.COM> For monospaced, I prefer Lucida
  SB> Typewriter (it's what I run Emacs with).  It's not as clunky as
  SB> Courier.

  ckd> I like it, too, but there's no oblique/italic version!  This is a
  ckd> major drawback when you use both colors and font styles for marking
  ckd> various types of text in XEmacs.

How about using Courier as italic and bold-italic font and LucidaTypewrite
for the rest?  This combo give best of both world. 

In my .Xdefaults:

Emacs.default.attributeFont:	-b&h-lucidatypewriter-medium-r-normal-*-12-120-*-*-m-70-iso8859-1
Emacs*Font:			-b&h-lucidatypewriter-bold-r-normal-*-12-120-*-*-m-70-iso8859-1
Emacs.bold.attributeFont:	-b&h-lucidatypewriter-bold-r-normal-*-12-120-*-*-m-70-iso8859-1
Emacs.italic.attributeFont:	-adobe-courier-medium-o-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1
Emacs.bold-italic.attributeFont:-adobe-courier-bold-o-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1

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