Re: Fonts again in ConTeXt

[Patrick Gundlach <pg@levana.de>]

Hans Hagen <pragma@wxs.nl> writes:

Hello Hans and others,

>>1) TeX macro package (aka LaTeX ;-) asks for "Adobe Helvetica", it
>>    gets the font metrics from "phv....tfm". Then, in the map files
>>    the users decides whether to use the original adobe fonts or the
>>    substitues.
>
> Right, and that is why so many docs look bad! Those metrics
> differ. 

But they would not look better if you use NimbusSans! (Germandbls)

> The same for times: adobe times metrics even differ/change over time
> (nelson beebe has done some excellent research on this; see pdftex
> mail archives); 

Does anybody have a pointer to this? I haven't found it.

> this is the main reason why i stick to urw times and palatino
> etc. Also, they go well with math times (tx) and math palatino (px).
>
>>2) TeX macro package (aka ConTeXt ;-) asks for "URW Nimbus Sans"
>>    a) on TeXlive (and perhaps any other I don't kown of) it gets the
>>       metrics from "uhv....tfm". Then, in the map files the user has
>>       no choice; the dvi/pdf driver should take Nimbus Sans.
>
> well, context users should have gs on their system anyway since it's a
> great tool for previewing (in th eprocess of stylewriting).

It is not a matter of having gs installed or not. Since TeX is just
looking for the tfm files, you need them. But is there any TeX System
with the tfm file for the urw variants besides TeXlive? TeTeX doesn't
have 'em and teTeX is widely distributed. 

The pfb files from urw are shipped with TeXlive and TeTeX.
 

>>    b) on teTeX (+...?) with some special mappings it gets the
>>       "phv....tfm" metrics. Then see above at 1).
>>
>>I think it is wrong behaviour to explicitly ask for the substitution
>>and leave the user no choice about which variant (adobe, urw) to use.
>
> hm, but you can of course make a typescript: berry-adobe


Then the mapping (internally) would be 

Helvetica -> uhv... -> phv

I think that this is a useable workaround.

>> > concerning the broken german ss: the polish font gurus (you'll meet
>> > them at the dante meeting) have made extended versions of those urw
>> > fonts, so maybe that will help. [the normal urw also don't have
>> > ogoneked glyphs]
>>
>>Well, concerning the ss: Just install the Adobe Helvetica (free) and
>>that's it (except for patching ConTeXt ;-)
>

> well, as far as i know adobe stopped adding the famou s15 to
> distributions; 

Right. There are old acroread versions on the adobe site that still
have them.

> also, beware: acrobat will replace helvetica etc by the system
> specific preference, which of course has different metrics (arial on
> windows), and again, is one reason why files start looking real
> ugly.

But this might still be better then the Nimbus Sans?

> so, i play safe, but as said, if you provide additional typescripts ...

OK. I'll do so. I guess I name it adobekb.

Patrick