truetype fonts (and windows) can blow me

[worker201]

Here's a reason to hate Windows that you probably don't run into everyday.

As many of you know, I am a cartographer - I make maps.  Currently, I am putting together a CD of images, and I have decided to use the PDF format for image distribution, because it prints perfectly and can be opened by anyone on a graphical platform who can download a reader (official Adobe readers, or one of the non-official pdf readers out there).  The images were built in Linux out of Encapsulated PostScript format, and then opened in Adobe Illustrator 10 in Windows for editing.

Now, this early in the process, we are already running across examples of Windows suckitude.  Normal PostScript (Type 1) fonts like Chicago, Times, Paladino, and Helvetica are available free with any Xorg or XF86 distribution.  The Linux mapmaker does everything in Helvetica.  For some reason, fonts that are free to use in Linux cost money to use in Windows - plain old normal Helvetica costs US$29 - and that doesn't include italic or bold or bold-italic.  Ridiculous, eh?  Well, Windows has Arial, a true-type font, that works just as well.  And thankfully, Illustrator has a handy tool that lets you go through and change all type from Helvetica to Arial.

So, now I've added shit like scalebars, annotations, and all that.  Now I have the file saved in eps format.  What I want to do is convert it to pdf.  You can save a pdf out of Illustrator, but it is Illustrator/PDF-combo, which is not quite as transferable across platforms as I wanted.  The best way to turn EPS into ultra-compatible PDF is to use Adobe Acrobat Distiller.  Yes, we are getting into a lot of top dollar programs here, but at educational discounts, its no big deal.

Unfortunately, the Acrobat Distiller doesn't deal with Windows TrueType fonts very well.  Apparently, there's all kinds of fucked up things about font metrics in TT fonts that don't translate well through Distiller.
 

Acrobat Distiller recognizes all Windows and Mac OS fonts; however, the type of font that you use (for example, TrueType) determines how Acrobat Distiller handles the information for that font.

http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/325165.html

Upshot, here's a little image of what happened when Distiller tried to parse Arial text:


Now, that ain't acceptable!

So what's a guy to do?  

Solution 1: Pay $87 so I can get Helvetica, Helvetica Bold, and Helvetica Italic into Windows.
Uhm, no.  Well, actually, if I was going to be using Windows for graphics like forever, I would consider a full Type1 library for Windows.  But for this project, fuck that.

Solution 2: Take the EPS file home to my Mac, change the font back to Helvetica, download the Acrobat Distiller for Mac, install it, distill the EPS at home, and then transfer the PDF back here.  
That can become a problem too, because Acrobat will still try and find a copy of Helvetica somewhere on the computer, because Helvetica might not have been embedded into the document.  Fucking hassle.

Solution 3: Find a Windows compatible font in Type1 or OpenType format that doesn't cost money.
Fortunately for me, installation of Adobe Windows products like Illustrator also installs a set of OpenType fonts that you get to use.  Myriad seems to be the most like Arial and Helvetica, and it is easily and automatically embedded into a distilled document.  It's not as slick looking as Arial or Helvetica, but it will have to do.


So seriously, what the fuck?  Why is a font free on Linux, but costs money on Windows?  Why did Microsoft feel the need to come up with their own stupid font type and force it on everyone else, especially when that type is clearly inferior to Type1 (and its replacement, OpenType)?  Is there any sane reason why Microsoft would use a font system that was marginally incompatible with PostScript and HPL, the universal standard printing languages for the last 25 years?  And when the fuck will tools like Illustrator and Distiller be available for Linux?  Fuck, I wish I had known about the beauty of OSX when I built this fucking system.(1)  Mac users get to use Helvetica and Illustrator.

**********
(1) which brings me to an important tangent about what should be going on here at the forum.  At the time that I decided to get a Dell, I was unaware that Illustrator ran better on a Mac than on Windows, I was unaware that OSX was much more usable than OS9 (which I hated), and I was unaware that there was fully functional *nix environment inside OSX.  A big fat G4 or skinny G5 would have saved me infinite headaches (you don't want to hear about my experiences with SFU, trust me) and made my work run much more smoothly.  The only benefit of the path that I chose was my fortunate re-introduction to Linux, and the proof of just how bad Windows can suck.  Would have preferred the OSX path.

[piratePenguin]

Why did Microsoft feel the need to come up with their own stupid font type and force it on everyone else, especially when that type is clearly inferior to Type1 (and its replacement, OpenType)?

Wasn't TrueType developed by Apple (if you're not talking about TrueType, I'm lost. I never really 'got' this font stuff.)?
http://freetype.org/freetype2/index.html#patents

[cymon]

Oh, and the OSX Helvetica is fucking sweet. There's a Windows version of it in Word XP, but it's really crap looking, similar to a fat arial.

[worker201]

After browsing around here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truetype

I'm thinking that perhaps the problem isn't TrueType at all.  Perhaps the problem is with Monotype, the company that came up with fonts like Arial, Times New Roman, Impact, Comic Sans, etc.  In order to prove this, I would have to run a similar experiment on my Mac, which I probably won't get to before I leave.

However, that doesn't excuse the fact that Linux has access to these fonts, and Windows does not.  The Type1 specification has been freely available since 1991, so I don't see what the problem is.  OSX supports OpenType, TrueType, and Type1/Type3 fonts, and so does Linux.  According to Adobe's own documentation, Microsoft support for all 3 font systems is spotty at best.

[hm_murdock]

Another, easy, cheap way. Open EPS in Preview in OS X. Save to PDF.

[worker201]

Another, easy, cheap way. Open EPS in Preview in OS X. Save to PDF.

What?!?

I hate Windows so bad I want to cry.

[Jack2000]

Just Screw Ms And Pirate The Font :d

[H_TeXMeX_H]

I say option 2 is best ... or does UNIX Acrobat Distiller only work for Sparc or Solaris ?

[worker201]

Well, I went with 3.

btw, you linked to system updates for unsupported software.

[H_TeXMeX_H]

Well fuck, I am a dumb shit ! ... ok well it seems there is no Adobe Distiller for Linux ... but there is PS2PDF ... Postscript to PDF.

[worker201]

Yeah, I've used Ghostscript tools in the past, and they've worked ok.  But the real point is that Windows should have Helvetica - the only reason not to have Helvetica is to create compat "problems" with other systems.

Dammit, that IS the only reason, and that's what Microsoft does.

[piratePenguin]

I think you can take the TTF files from your Mac and use them on Windows...
You can use Windows fonts on GNU/Linux anyhow (http://corefonts.sourceforge.net/).

[Aloone_Jonez]

Can't you embed the fonts into the .pdf or convert them to vectors?

[worker201]

Can't you embed the fonts into the .pdf or convert them to vectors?

Of course.  But it doesn't work right.  That's the whole point.  I can embed ttf Arial into the document, no problem.  In fact, that's what produced the image I posted.  So let me reiterate the problem, so that it is clear, because there are 2 facets to this problem.

1. PDF distiller doesn't parse Windows ttf font metrics correctly, leading to incorrect type layout when you use a ttf font such as Arial.

2. By default, Windows does not include any Type1 fonts or OpenType fonts.  You have to get these from somewhere else.

Ergo:
The only fonts available by default to a Windows user will cause the PDF distiller to create incorrect type layout.

I suppose you could blame Adobe for part of this problem - making a program that only works properly with their open-standard fonts is kinda lame.  But when you install Adobe programs, they install open-standard fonts for you to use.  Because they are fully aware of the incompatibility problems that can arise.

However, Microsoft must also be aware of the incompatibility issues.  And they don't seem to have done anything about it.  For Microsoft to not include any open-standard fonts is extremely lame.  More than likely, they have some kind of agreement with Nanotype, the company that makes Arial, Times New Roman, Tahoma, and Verdana, among others.  Again, ridiculous business tactics seem to make money while making customers frustrated.

PiratePenguin, I have MS corefonts installed in Linux.  That doesn't help with the above situation much, though.

[piratePenguin]

PiratePenguin, I have MS corefonts installed in Linux.  That doesn't help with the above situation much, though.

But can't you copy the fonts from your Mac over to Windows?