Re: Fontographer 4.1 Vs. Microsoft Visual True Type 4.2 (VTT)

From: Christopher John Fynn (cfynn@dircon.co.uk)
Date: Fri Aug 20 1999 - 22:06:03 EDT


In Windows the Alt+0nnn entry method doesn't work for characters
> 255 or outside the active code page. You have to switch input
locales to activate a code page which contains the characters you want
to enter, or use something like Windows NT's Unicode character
map accessory (or Character Agent
http://www.bjondi.com/products/char_agent/)
In Access you should also be able to write VBA code to enter Unicode
characters.

AFAIK Visual TrueType is primarily a specialised application for hinting
TrueType / Open type fonts - not a general purpose font editor. A good
font editor that runs under MS Windows and will handle these fonts
is FontLab 3 (see http://www.fontlab.com/ or http://www.pyrus.com/)
- though if you start to mess around with an OpenType font that has glyphs
for complex scripts which requiring glyph substitution etc. you can easily
destroy some of the OpenType tables.

- Chris

----- Original Message -----
From: Magda Danish (Unicode) <v-magdad@microsoft.com>
To: Unicode List <unicode@unicode.org>
Sent: Friday, August 20, 1999 5:21 PM
Subject: FW: Fontographer 4.1 Vs. Microsoft Visual True Type 4.2 (VTT)

> -----Original Message-----
> From: PogeyBait@aol.com [mailto:PogeyBait@aol.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, August 18, 1999 6:38 PM
> To: Magda Danish (Unicode)
> Subject: Leo's follow-up: Fontographer 4.1 Vs. Microsoft Visual True
> Type 4.2 (VTT)

> Dear Magda:
>
> You've kindly helped Leo last week by posting Chris Pratley's response to
> his
> initial query letter. I hope it's not too much of a burden to you to take
a
> look at
> Leo's follow-up. Thanks in advance,
> Tanya
> ^^^^^^^^^^
> Leo writes,
>
> "I understood how to install Universal Font, named Arial Unicode MS now in
> MS
> Office 2K and linked it to Access databases, but I didn't see all symbols
of
>
> this font. For example when I type ALT + 040 and ALT + 0296 (296=40+256),
I
> see two absolutely equivalent symbols, i.e. Access perceived Universal
Font,
>
> as ordinary 1 byte font. Access brings only first 256 symbols; symbols
with
> larger codes transform to first 256 codes by means of subtracting needed
> number of periods (256). What manipulations
> with MS Access initial parameters I must do to obtain right MS Access
> interpretation of Universal Font, as 2 byte, 40000 symbol font to have
> access
> to all of its symbols? How can I type symbols of this font? (I know three
> ways for ordinary -- using keyboard, using table of symbols and using ALT
+
> code. May be for Universal Font exists another way?) I have a very old,
but
> rather good font program, named Fontographer 4.1. This program can create
> new
> symbols and may be used for surveying all symbols of interesting font.
> Unfortunately I couldn't survey Universal Font using this program, because
> this font is too long for Fontographer 4.1. The symbol table, which is a
> part
> of Windows 95 shows only first 256 symbols. I haven't font program to
survey
>
> this font. On the Microsoft Internet Site I read, that there
> is a font program, named Microsoft Visual True Type 4.2 (VTT) to work with
2
>
> byte fonts. I'm curious about this program!
>
> Now I want to return to the main theme -- my database. I almost wrote
> functions of this database, i.e. "frame". Now my main task -- to receive
> information on crystals
> grown in our Institute and type it in my database. For today I have very
> small extent of information about real crystals and its losing is not a
> trouble. Now I am
> standing at a crossroads. If I use Universal Font I lose information typed
> in
> another font. I must decide for myself whether to use Universal Font or
not.
>
> When my database will be full of information, this transition will be very
> painful."
>
> Leo
>
> leva-liberant@mtu-net.ru



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