Re: Screen font appearance on Macs & PCs...

[Mary McWilliams Johnson <mary -at- SUPERCONNECT -dot- COM>]

This info is just what I need for my Web site "Mary's Tips on Designing Web
Sites":
        http://www.superconnect.com/writershelp

Is this info (particularly the first 2 paragraphs) derived from a published
source? If so, I would like to have that reference. 


Cordially,                 Mary McWilliams Johnson
                               McJohnson Communications
  Documentation  /  Web Site Design, Development and Graphics
                                  www.superconnect.com
              ------------------------------º><º------------------------------
"The biggest mistake people make in life is not trying to make a living 
               at doing what they most enjoy." ~ Malcomb S. Forbes
            ------------------------------º><º------------------------------





>When the Macintosh was created, the standard printer's units declared
>there were 72 points to the inch (well, OK, 72 and just a smidgeon more).
>Therefore, to fit in well in the publishing industry, the Macintosh was
>designed to render fonts based on 72 points to the inch.
>
>When Windows was created, Microsoft showed its usual respect for
>established standards: they ignored them completely. The state of the art
>of DOS-based video resulted in about 96 pixels to the inch on the display,
>therefore Microsoft designed Windows to render fonts at 96 points to the
>inch.
>
>This fundamental difference means that no two fonts will render exactly
>the same on screen. (It's also the best reason why a web developer has no
>business dictating the absolute size of the type used in a site's pages,
>but should rather leave that choice to the client.)
>
>What you're in effect looking for is a font which will render with the
>same readability despite being shown at two completely different sizes,
>something which is nearly impossible to do. Your best bet is probably to
>examine some of the sans serif fonts (Verdana comes to mind as a
>possibility, or perhaps some of the web fonts). Serifs don't survive well
>under these circumstances.
>
>Another idea is to insist on having ATM installed on every machine, and
>then use a postscript font for which there isn't a TrueType equivalent
>installed. Going through the Adobe font rendering engine lessens some of
>the differences.
>
>Finally, you can limit some of the effects with some design decisions in
>the user interface. For example, since you already know that the same
>label will take up different amounts of pixels on each platform, never
>design the label's container to exactly enclose the label, but rather
>allow for a comfortable margin around it. For example, let's say the final
>difference between platforms is 25 pixels for a given label. If the
>container leaves only 25 pixels of space total around the label, then the
>whitespace on one platform will be twice that. OTOH, if the container is
>designed to look good with 100 pixels of whitespace, then the effect of
>stepping that up to 125 (25% expansion, instead of 100%) won't be so
>jarring.
>
>
>Have fun,
>Arlen
>Chief Managing Director In Charge, Department of Redundancy Department
>DNRC 224
>
>Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- Com
>----------------------------------------------
>In God we trust; all others must provide data.
>----------------------------------------------
>Opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.
>If JCI had an opinion on this, they'd hire someone else to deliver it.
>
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>
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>
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 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000