[fmforosx] Cross-platform font conundrum

[Steve Rickaby]

At 4:01 pm + 23/1/06, Mark Barratt wrote:

>Paul Findon wrote:
>>
>>I've never experienced this first-hand because all the FrameMaker users I 
>>deal with around the world are on the Mac, but I understand that the fonts 
>>must be of the exact same type and from the exact same foundry, and even then 
>>there may be differences with extended characters. OpenType is supposed to 
>>eliminate this kind of cross-platform issue.
>
>You may have different versions of Frutiger, but it's unlikely. More likely is 
>the problem I had when I used to use Frutiger on both platforms: naming 
>policies

Thanks Mark: this is all most useful, and has a horrible ring of truth.

>[stuff...]
>
>If you are doing this once-and-forever it may be best to go through all the 
>styles on a Windows PC and issue new templates, because of the complexities of 
>telling clients how to find and replace their fm.ini files. Depends on how 
>many users you have.

Not many end users of this template: currently three. Yes, but the problem is 
that I don't have access to a PC FrameMaker installation.

Would not another valid cure by to tell them to uninstall their current 
Frutiger and replace it with a 'clean' font set from the same source as I got 
mine from? Cost is not an issue here really as the client will pay for new 
fonts, and Monotype only charge $22 a face for Frutger.
-- 
Steve

[fmforosx] Cross-platform font conundrum

[Mark Barratt]

Paul Findon wrote:
> On 23 Jan 2006, at 09:44, Steve Rickaby wrote:
> 
>> When moving a template that uses Frutiger 45 and 55 Ps Type 1 from Mac 
>> to PC FrameMaker 7, the recipient reports missing font messages for 
>> the fonts, even though they are [allegedly] installed on the PC. Can 
>> anyone offer me any pointers as to why this might be occurring?
> 
> 
> I've never experienced this first-hand because all the FrameMaker users 
> I deal with around the world are on the Mac, but I understand that the 
> fonts must be of the exact same type and from the exact same foundry, 
> and even then there may be differences with extended characters. 
> OpenType is supposed to eliminate this kind of cross-platform issue.

You may have different versions of Frutiger, but it's unlikely. More 
likely is the problem I had when I used to use Frutiger on both 
platforms: naming policies.

Given a range of weights from 45 (light) through 45, 55, 65 and 75 
(black) and only medium and bold to choose from on early Windows 
machines, Linotype and its licencees chose to ship Frutiger as

. Frutiger 45, in which the 'medium' is Frutiger 45 and the 'bold' is 
Frutiger 65

. Frutiger 55 in which the medium is 55 and the bold is 75

This was quite sensible in some ways, but created cross-platform 
horrors, largely because selecting 'bold' on one platform gives a 
different result on the other one.

You can get round this by working on the fm.ini file font alias section. 
You need to map the Mac font-name to the equivalent Windows font-name in 
each case.

There are instructions on this 'Customising FrameMaker products' part of 
the online help, though I recall spending quite some time working out 
what, in each case, is the 'valid' font name.

If you are doing this once-and-forever it may be best to go through all 
the styles on a Windows PC and issue new templates, because of the 
complexities of telling clients how to find and replace their fm.ini 
files. Depends on how many users you have.

HTH

-- 
Mark Barratt
Text Matters

Information design: we help explain things using
language | design | systems | process improvement
__
phone +44 (0)118 986 8313  email markb at textmatters.com
web http://www.textmatters.com

[fmforosx] Cross-platform font conundrum

[Paul Findon]

On 23 Jan 2006, at 09:44, Steve Rickaby wrote:

> When moving a template that uses Frutiger 45 and 55 Ps Type 1 from Mac 
> to PC FrameMaker 7, the recipient reports missing font messages for 
> the fonts, even though they are [allegedly] installed on the PC. Can 
> anyone offer me any pointers as to why this might be occurring?

I've never experienced this first-hand because all the FrameMaker users 
I deal with around the world are on the Mac, but I understand that the 
fonts must be of the exact same type and from the exact same foundry, 
and even then there may be differences with extended characters. 
OpenType is supposed to eliminate this kind of cross-platform issue.

This may shed some light:


Paul

Re: Cross-platform font conundrum

[William Gaffga]

The cross-platform fonts thing can be a PITA. We use the same  
OpenType fonts on the Mac & PC for our template but the PC does not  
recognize one of the variants of Futura Condensed so when we bring  
the files to the PC (fairly rare) the fonts shift. Fortunately for us  
we only generate Help from the PC so the fonts aren't a big enough  
issue for us to modify the templates.


Nevertheless, it is a lesson in the idiosyncrasies of cross-platform  
compatibility ... It is not easy to make it perfect, but technically  
can be done with experimenting.


So, lose the PS fonts and go OpenType. That is the first step.

Hope That Helps.

Will.

On Jan 23, 2006, at 1:44 AM, Steve Rickaby wrote:

When moving a template that uses Frutiger 45 and 55 Ps Type 1 from  
Mac to PC FrameMaker 7, the recipient reports missing font messages  
for the fonts, even though they are [allegedly] installed on the  
PC. Can anyone offer me any pointers as to why this might be  
occurring?


I cannot check the installation myself, as it's in another country.
--
Steve

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Cross-platform font conundrum

[Steve Rickaby]

When moving a template that uses Frutiger 45 and 55 Ps Type 1 from Mac to PC 
FrameMaker 7, the recipient reports missing font messages for the fonts, even 
though they are [allegedly] installed on the PC. Can anyone offer me any 
pointers as to why this might be occurring?

I cannot check the installation myself, as it's in another country.
-- 
Steve

Cross-platform font conundrum

[William Gaffga]

The cross-platform fonts thing can be a PITA. We use the same  
OpenType fonts on the Mac & PC for our template but the PC does not  
recognize one of the variants of Futura Condensed so when we bring  
the files to the PC (fairly rare) the fonts shift. Fortunately for us  
we only generate Help from the PC so the fonts aren't a big enough  
issue for us to modify the templates.

Nevertheless, it is a lesson in the idiosyncrasies of cross-platform  
compatibility ... It is not easy to make it perfect, but technically  
can be done with experimenting.

So, lose the PS fonts and go OpenType. That is the first step.

Hope That Helps.

Will.

On Jan 23, 2006, at 1:44 AM, Steve Rickaby wrote:

> When moving a template that uses Frutiger 45 and 55 Ps Type 1 from  
> Mac to PC FrameMaker 7, the recipient reports missing font messages  
> for the fonts, even though they are [allegedly] installed on the  
> PC. Can anyone offer me any pointers as to why this might be  
> occurring?
>
> I cannot check the installation myself, as it's in another country.
> -- 
> Steve

Re: [fmforosx] Cross-platform font conundrum

[Steve Rickaby]

At 4:01 pm + 23/1/06, Mark Barratt wrote:

>Paul Findon wrote:
>>
>>I've never experienced this first-hand because all the FrameMaker users I 
>>deal with around the world are on the Mac, but I understand that the fonts 
>>must be of the exact same type and from the exact same foundry, and even then 
>>there may be differences with extended characters. OpenType is supposed to 
>>eliminate this kind of cross-platform issue.
>
>You may have different versions of Frutiger, but it's unlikely. More likely is 
>the problem I had when I used to use Frutiger on both platforms: naming 
>policies

Thanks Mark: this is all most useful, and has a horrible ring of truth.

>[stuff...]
>
>If you are doing this once-and-forever it may be best to go through all the 
>styles on a Windows PC and issue new templates, because of the complexities of 
>telling clients how to find and replace their fm.ini files. Depends on how 
>many users you have.

Not many end users of this template: currently three. Yes, but the problem is 
that I don't have access to a PC FrameMaker installation.

Would not another valid cure by to tell them to uninstall their current 
Frutiger and replace it with a 'clean' font set from the same source as I got 
mine from? Cost is not an issue here really as the client will pay for new 
fonts, and Monotype only charge $22 a face for Frutger.
-- 
Steve
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Re: [fmforosx] Cross-platform font conundrum

[Mark Barratt]

Paul Findon wrote:

On 23 Jan 2006, at 09:44, Steve Rickaby wrote:

When moving a template that uses Frutiger 45 and 55 Ps Type 1 from Mac 
to PC FrameMaker 7, the recipient reports missing font messages for 
the fonts, even though they are [allegedly] installed on the PC. Can 
anyone offer me any pointers as to why this might be occurring?



I've never experienced this first-hand because all the FrameMaker users 
I deal with around the world are on the Mac, but I understand that the 
fonts must be of the exact same type and from the exact same foundry, 
and even then there may be differences with extended characters. 
OpenType is supposed to eliminate this kind of cross-platform issue.


You may have different versions of Frutiger, but it's unlikely. More 
likely is the problem I had when I used to use Frutiger on both 
platforms: naming policies.


Given a range of weights from 45 (light) through 45, 55, 65 and 75 
(black) and only medium and bold to choose from on early Windows 
machines, Linotype and its licencees chose to ship Frutiger as


. Frutiger 45, in which the 'medium' is Frutiger 45 and the 'bold' is 
Frutiger 65


. Frutiger 55 in which the medium is 55 and the bold is 75

This was quite sensible in some ways, but created cross-platform 
horrors, largely because selecting 'bold' on one platform gives a 
different result on the other one.


You can get round this by working on the fm.ini file font alias section. 
You need to map the Mac font-name to the equivalent Windows font-name in 
each case.


There are instructions on this 'Customising FrameMaker products' part of 
the online help, though I recall spending quite some time working out 
what, in each case, is the 'valid' font name.


If you are doing this once-and-forever it may be best to go through all 
the styles on a Windows PC and issue new templates, because of the 
complexities of telling clients how to find and replace their fm.ini 
files. Depends on how many users you have.


HTH

--
Mark Barratt
Text Matters

Information design: we help explain things using
language | design | systems | process improvement
__
phone +44 (0)118 986 8313  email [EMAIL PROTECTED]
web http://www.textmatters.com

___


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Re: [fmforosx] Cross-platform font conundrum

[Paul Findon]

On 23 Jan 2006, at 09:44, Steve Rickaby wrote:

When moving a template that uses Frutiger 45 and 55 Ps Type 1 from Mac 
to PC FrameMaker 7, the recipient reports missing font messages for 
the fonts, even though they are [allegedly] installed on the PC. Can 
anyone offer me any pointers as to why this might be occurring?


I've never experienced this first-hand because all the FrameMaker users 
I deal with around the world are on the Mac, but I understand that the 
fonts must be of the exact same type and from the exact same foundry, 
and even then there may be differences with extended characters. 
OpenType is supposed to eliminate this kind of cross-platform issue.


This may shed some light:


Paul

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Cross-platform font conundrum

[Steve Rickaby]

When moving a template that uses Frutiger 45 and 55 Ps Type 1 from Mac to PC 
FrameMaker 7, the recipient reports missing font messages for the fonts, even 
though they are [allegedly] installed on the PC. Can anyone offer me any 
pointers as to why this might be occurring?

I cannot check the installation myself, as it's in another country.
-- 
Steve
___


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To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
or visit 
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