Blurry fonts on the screen - Windows 8.1- Framemaker 12

[Guest]

I installed a group of adobe fonts bought in 2002 in Windows 8.1 by clicking every .PFM file and clicking on the install button. Everything seems fine. According to the Microsoft support knowledge base, the .PFM file should be in the windows-->fonts directory. And they are at the right place. Each font comes with two files with different  file extension : a .PFM and a .PFB file extension but I cannot see the .PFB files. Is it normal ?

The question : why my fonts look so blurry on the screen, I simply cannot work.

Thank you.

[Arnis_Gubins]

Are these fonts blurry only in FM12 or in all applications? Do you have ClearType enabled?

[thoc]

The fonts blurry appears in all applications. The problem is the same whatever Cleartype is enabled or not. Thank you for the answers.

[Bob_Niland]

> The fonts blurry appears in all applications.

Just these 2002 Adobe fonts, or all fonts?

And what exactly are these old fonts?

How did you "install" them?

[thoc]

Only with the old fonts. I bought a set of fonts from adobe including Garamond, Helvetica, Courier, Times... I use only Helvetica, Times and Courrier in my documents. These fonts look blurry in MS Word, Excel.... also. When I launch Framemaker, Framemaker doesn't «see» the fonts in my document and ask for replacing them even if I choose Adobe PDF printer as my default printer.

I installed the fonts by clicking every .PFM file and clicking on the install button. Everything seems fine. According to the Microsoft support knowledge base, the .PFM file should be in the windows-->fonts directory. And they are at the right place. Each font comes with two files with different  file extension : a .PFM and a .PFB file extension but I cannot see the .PFB files. Is it normal ?

[Arnis_Gubins]

As long as both the PFM and PFB files are in the same folder, they should be properly installed when you right-click on the PFM file and select the Install option. The PFM file contains the metrics for the font, while the PFB file contains the glyph outlines in a binary format.

Type 1 fonts are supported through the Windows GDI (graphics device interface). There where issues with GDI+ and the newer WPF ( Windows Presentation Foundation) used in newer applications doesn't support Type 1 fonts.

For your specific Type 1 fonts, you should switch to the TTF equivalents supplied with Windows 8.1, e.g. TimesNewRoman, Arial, Courrier New. These contain unicode encodings and have substantially more glyphs available than in the old Type 1s (which were code-page specific and restricted to 255 glyphs), i.e. time to retire the old ones.

Also, if you try an online search, you'll find that there are quite a number of issues with Win8 and fuzzy,blurry font rendering, e.g.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-performance/poor-font-rendering-in-window...

[thoc]

Thank you for the answer.

1. If I switch from my adobe Type 1 fonts to the TTF equivalents supplied with windows 8.1, would it mean that I will have to correct all the styles in my documents for the TTF? This is quite a job.

2. I have to supply a PDF file to the printing office. Is there a mapping solution to replace TimesNewRoman for TImes for example when creating the PDF file?

3. Could you tell me if the PDF file will keep exactly the same look of what if see on the screen?

4. Will I have the same fonts blurry problem if I downgrade to Windows 7?

[Arnis_Gubins]

1. You would only have to update your template file(s) and apply it to the relevant documents/books. Global font changes can be done quite easily and quickly through the Designers or using the Font pod in FM. (If you're uncertain of how to globally change fonts in your tags, start a new discussion on this topic)

2. You create your PDF from the FM file, so the font issue would be addressed by #1.

3. Only very typographically astute users would be able to tell the difference between Times vs.TimesNewRoman or Arial vs. Helvetica or Courier vs. CourierNew, so I don't think anyone would even notice the change.

4. Probably not, but Type 1 fonts are old technology from the last century, so I wouldn't put effort into preserving their usage in your documents.

[Bob_Niland]

Have a look at this discussion regarding how to "install" Type1 fonts on XP and later:

Missing fonts in FrameMaker 9 even after installing Adobe Type Manager

and why you should NOT install ATM if you have it, which you might with fonts of that vintage.

Those are likely legacy codepage fonts, and not Unicode. Any glyphs that are not part of ISO 8559-1 latin, such as Dingbats and Symbol, will have to be implemented in your document as special keyboard sequences or \x codes, with a Character Format (or override) applied. This is not a great idea for new documents.

Now as to why your fonts are "blurry"; that's not obvious. In addition to what Arnis suggested, another couple of possibilites might be:

• Check your DisplayUsingPrinterMetrics setting in maker.ini, and make sure a PostScript or Ps-like (e.g.e PDF) printer is the the current printer during edit.
• Make sure FM can actually see those old fonts, and isn't performing some sort of degenerate substition, such as to a bitmap font.

[thoc]

Ok, Framemeker sees the fonts and I chose a PDF printer. I have a 90% improvement.  Should I install a Postcript driver to obtain the best resolution and if it is yes which one? I don't own any postscript printer.

Thank you.

[Arnis_Gubins]

You should have the AdobePDF printer instance set as your default printer when using FM. To automatically have this done when you start FM, use the freebie Sundorne SetPrint utility available at:

http://sundorne.com/FrameMaker/Freeware/setPrint.htm