|
|
Menu Styled Fonts
What is Menu Styling?
In most programs, there are two ways to access the font "Times Italic." The first way is to select a block of text, and assign it to the font "Times Italic." The second way, known as "menu styling," is to assign the block of text to the font "Times" and then assign it the characteristic <italic>. Some programs have a multitude of effects that can be applied to type, such as Outline and Shadow; we strongly recommend that you avoid these entirely, as the effect you see onscreen may differ radically from what the imagesetter does when it outputs film! The same unpredictability can occur even with the commonly used <italic> and <bold> styles, hence the need for this web page.
What happens when you use Menu Styling?
When you apply the characteristic <italic> to the font "Times," the program goes to the font file for "Times" and asks it, "what is the name of your italic companion typeface?" The font replies "Times Italic," and the page layout program searches for a font with that name. If the page layout program finds "Times Italic," then that's what it uses. But if "Times Italic" is missing, that spells trouble.
Many programs are able to create a crude approximation of an italic font by obliquing the original. From a type designer's perspective, this is anathema - the italic version of a font is a carefully designed face all it's own, and an obliqued version of the original is not an acceptable substitute. For instance, observe the difference between the italic i with a swoop at the base and the round dot in Times Italic, and the obliqued i with the flat base and the stretched elliptical dot in the obliqued version of Times. |
 |
Times Italic
|
 |
Times, obliqued |
|
| Many programs can also fake a bold version of a typeface by thickening it - in Postscript terminology, by adding a stroke. As with obliquing a font to fake italicizing, thickening a font to make it a "faux bold" produces a result entirely unlike the bold companion typeface produced by a professional type designer. Adding a stroke thickens the entire letter by a uniform amount, including the serifs; a type designer working on a bold face will thicken different parts of the letterforms by different amounts. |
 |
Times Bold
|
 |
Times, with auto-generated bolding applied
|
|
| If you aren't a type designer, you may care not at all, or you may care a lot about these differences - people vary. You may even like the look of a thickened or obliqued font better in some cases. From a service bureau standpoint, the problem with menu styled fonts isn't an esthetic one, it's technical. Let's use the example of Microsoft Comic Sans, which as of this writing, has no italic companion face. If you select a bunch of Comic Sans and assign it the characteristic <italic>, it will look obliqued on screen. It will print obliqued on your desktop laser printer or inkjet printer. But when you send your files to the service bureau to get film made, you will get unpredictable, and usually undesirable results.
When the imagesetter operator attempts to print your files, the font "Comic Sans" is asked "what is the name of your italic companion typeface?" Comic Sans has no answer, so the computer has to decide what to do. Should it simply oblique Comic Sans? What if the font is corrupt, and there actually is a companion italic, but it can't be accessed? What if "Comic Sans Italic" actually exists, but the designer forgot to supply it? Obliquing the face might hide the error from the operator! Better to substitute Courier for the missing font, so that it will be painfully obvious that something has gone wrong.
The people who design high end output devices, such as the imagesetters used to make film and the RIPs (raster image processors) that drive them, cater to a different clientele than the people who design desktop printers. Most computer users don't know or don't care that much about the difference between a companion bold face and an auto-generated bold. It would be a constant annoyance to the casual user if missing fonts invariably caused print errors, so the makers of most desktop printers build in automatic auto-generation functionality, which is good enough for the vast majority of their customers. However, most professional designers (including your humble author) would be INCENSED if unwanted typeface substitution were performed without their knowledge, and since we are the source of most output jobs, service bureaus cater to our needs.
Solutions
The simple way to avoid problems with menu styled fonts is to avoid menu styling altogether. If you never touch the <bold> or <italic> keys, they won't get you into any trouble.
The slightly more complex solution is to design using the menu keys, making certain that companion faces actually exist, then perform a search and replace function before sending for output. For example, you could search for all instances of "Garamond <bold>" and replace them with "Garamond Bold <normal>".
The significantly more complex solution is to develop an understanding of which fonts have proper links to existing companion faces. Menu styling often works, but you have to be aware of when it won't. Commercial preflight programs are of great assistance when this route is taken, since they will warn you when you've done something illegal.
Advanced tweakers may decide to make their own fonts - when you need a bold version of some freeware decorative face, you fire up a font-editing program and make an entirely new variant for your own personal use. Needless to say, this is not a practical solution for most users! |
|
|
|
|
