Nigel wrote: > Where can I get a [free] copy of helvetica that will work with > Scribus? > I'm running Kubuntu edgy. > Is verdana just as good?
Helvetica is a trademarked font owned by Linotype. You can't legally download Helvetica for free anywhere. You have to buy it from Linotype or a dealer legally selling it. Helvetica is built into all PostScript printers. It used to be available only as a PostScript Type 1 font, but I see that Linotype now has a TrueType version and there are OpenType versions for many individual members of the Helvetica family. Due to US law that doesn't allow a font's design to be copyrighted, there are numerous clones and knockoffs of Helvetica. Some are good quality, many are not. A legal clone is produced by printing the font's characters at a large size, scanning them, and tracing with a program such as Fontographer. Hints and kerning would have to be added; they cannot legally be copied from the font that was scanned because they are considered part of the computer *program*, not the font design, and thus are subject to copyright. If a cloner would bother at all with hinting and kerning, it would probably be done automatically and thus the quality would not be as good as what you'd get with careful manual hinting and kerning. Many of the Helvetica-inspired fonts like Arial differ in details, subtle and not subtle, from Helvetica, and thus are not clones. Most readers would never notice. Remember that most readers can barely distinguish a serif font from a sans serif--if that. Type mavens generally avoid Helvetica--and Arial and Times Roman or Times New Roman--because they are so overused. However, some well-known logos use Helvetica, and if a company's style sheet demands it, you have no choice. Arial uses the same metrics as Helvetica, so substituting Arial for Helvetica should not result in page reflows. That depends to some extent on the output device, however. With clones and knockoffs, all bets are off. Verdana is quite different from Helvetica. It was designed by Matthew Carter specifically for screen display and is open and spacious in appearance. It is available only in TrueType. For printed text, you usually want something less spacious and open, though most readers probably wouldn't notice. Verdana is owned by Microsoft and is included with Windows and other Microsoft software. At one time Microsoft offered Verdana for free download but no longer does. It seems it can still be freely offered under the terms of the original license. It is, however, a proprietary font. --Judy Miner USA Registered Linux User #397786
