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@(C) "Copyright © Cloanto Italia srl"
@REM Part of The Kara Collection CD-ROM, by Cloanto ®
@FONT topaz.font 8
@WIDTH 74

@NODE Main "Personal Fonts Maker - 8. PFM: The Attributes Menu"
@TOC KARACDLOCAL:4/O0O0/Main

@{B}8.         PFM: The Attributes Menu@{UB}


   This menu allows the user to associate some @{I}attributes@{UI} to the current
font. Attributes are used to describe the font, e.g. to say whether it is
an @{I}italic@{UI} or an @{U}underlined@{UU} font, or @{I}@{U}both@{UI}@{UU}. This information is stored with
the font when the Personal Fonts Maker or the Amiga font format is used.
Some of the attributes listed in this chapter are not handled by the Amiga
format.

   Attributes are very important when a font is processed automatically by
a program. For a human user it is very easy to tell whether a font is @{I}
italic@{UI} or @{B}bold@{UB}, with fixed pitch or proportionally spaced. This task is,
however, too complex to be implemented in a normal program. When a program
asks the Amiga operating system to use an italic version of a given
typeface, the operating system searches the font files for a font with the
"Italic" attribute flag set. This is a fast and efficient solution, but
requires the font files to have the attributes set properly. For this
reason, it is important that when a font is designed or modified, the
attributes are also set correctly.

   The attributes can be set and cleared with the mouse, as described in
section @{"1.9.8" LINK KARACDLOCAL:4/0056/Main 568} ("Menus"). Some attributes automatically exclude other
attributes. For example, a font cannot be light and bold, superscript and
subscript or enlarged and condensed. The following subsections describe
each attribute. Section @{"2.3" LINK KARACDLOCAL:4/0055/Main 231} ("Typeface Classification and Typographic
Basics") describes some font attributes in more detail. Appendix @{"O" LINK KARACDLOCAL:4/0018/Main 1}
explains how the attribute flags can be accessed with software other than
the Personal Fonts Maker. The Amiga documentation should be read for
additional technical information on the attributes handled by the Amiga
font format.


@{B}8.1        Italic@{UB}

   A font where all characters are slanted to the right is called @{I}italic@{UI}.
Sections @{"5.6" LINK KARACDLOCAL:4/0009/Main 124} ("Italicize") and @{"7.4" LINK KARACDLOCAL:4/0054/Main 469} ("Italic Factor") explain how italic
variations of normal characters can be generated automatically. Italic
fonts are also called @{I}oblique@{UI}.

   If this attribute is set, the Amiga FSF_ITALIC style flag will be set
if the font is saved in the Amiga font format (section @{"4.6" LINK KARACDLOCAL:4/2149/Main 263}, "Export Amiga
Font").


@{B}8.2        Bold@{UB}

   A font is called @{B}bold@{UB} if it is made of thicker lines than those of the
typeface it is derived from. Section @{"3.19" LINK KARACDLOCAL:4/0008/Main 675} ("The Four 'Shift' Gadgets")
describes how to combine the "Shift" function with the "OR" to create bold
variants of characters.

   If this attribute is set, the Amiga FSF_BOLD style flag will be set if
the font is saved in the Amiga font format (section @{"4.6" LINK KARACDLOCAL:4/2149/Main 263}, "Export Amiga
Font").


@{B}8.3        Light@{UB}

   A light font is the opposite of a bold font. Light typefaces have
thinner and more delicate lines.


@{B}8.4        Underlined@{UB}

   It is probably more difficult to explain what an @{U}underlined@{UU} font is
than creating one. As for all other variations, it is possible to create a
macro which underlines all characters in a font. It is important to
remember to record the macro by underlining manually the @{U}widest@{UU} possible
character ("X Size" equal to "X Max").

   If this attribute is set, the Amiga FSF_UNDERLINED style flag will be
set if the font is saved in the Amiga font format (section @{"4.6" LINK KARACDLOCAL:4/2149/Main 263}, "Export
Amiga Font").


@{B}8.5        Outline@{UB}

   An outlined character has all its external and internal borders drawn,
but is empty inside these borders. The Personal Fonts Maker comes with
different macros which can be used to outline the characters of a normal
font (section @{"12.5" LINK KARACDLOCAL:4/0052/Main 194}, "Predefined Macros").


@{B}8.6        Shadow@{UB}

   Shadowed characters have a visible shadow. One of the pre-recorded
macros which come with the Personal Fonts Maker can be used to draw a
shadow under the characters of a normal font (section @{"12.5" LINK KARACDLOCAL:4/0052/Main 194}, "Predefined
Macros").


@{B}8.7        Superscript@{UB}

   Superscript characters are small characters which are usually written
at the top right of normal text. Superscripts are normally used for
references, quotes and mathematical or chemical writing. The "Y Max"
parameter of a superscript font is usually equal to that of the font which
is combined with the superscript. The difference lies in the size of the
characters, which are smaller, and the baseline, which is much higher than
normal.


@{B}8.8        Subscript@{UB}

   Subscript characters are similar to superscripts in size, but usually
rest on the same baseline of normal text, if not below it.


@{B}8.9        Enlarged@{UB}

   Enlarged text is - as the word implies - an enlarged variant of normal
text. It is normally used for headers and titles. Some printers have
built-in "enlarged" fonts, while others are capable of algorithmically
enlarging a normal font, even if it is downloaded. Average enlarged text
is output at about 5 cpi (characters per inch) on a normal printer, as
opposed to the 10 and 12 cpi of the pica and elite pitches.

   The proportions of an enlarged font are not always the same as the
original font. Sometimes only the width or only the height is affected.
Such fonts are often called "Extended", "Double-Width" or
"Double-Height".

   If this attribute is set, the Amiga FSF_EXTENDED style flag will be set
if the font is saved in the Amiga font format (section @{"4.6" LINK KARACDLOCAL:4/2149/Main 263}, "Export Amiga
Font").


@{B}8.10       Condensed@{UB}

   A condensed font can be handy to print drafts and large tables at about
15 to 17 characters per inch. The height of the characters is usually the
same as that of normal characters of that typeface, but the characters are
narrower.


@{B}8.11       Reverse@{UB}

   Reverse (also called negative) characters have the foreground and
background colours reversed. On a normal black on white display this would
mean having text in white on a black background. This variation is often
used to emphasize text on screens and printouts of fixed-pitch character
mode output systems. Section @{"5.7" LINK KARACDLOCAL:4/0009/Main 157} ("Reverse") describes a function of the
Personal Fonts Maker which automatically reverses an image.


@{B}8.12       Serif@{UB}

   As described in section @{"2.3" LINK KARACDLOCAL:4/0055/Main 231}, serifs are little tails on the letters.
Serifs are also used to classify fonts. A typeface with serifs is also
called Roman. A typeface without serifs is called sans serif, or @{I}italic@{UI}.
This latter term can cause some misunderstanding, as fonts which are
slanted to the right are also called italic. Usually when the word
"italic" is used to indicate a sans serif font, "oblique" indicates that
the font is slanted.


@{B}8.13       Draft@{UB}

   A draft font is used for high speed printing. As described in section
@{"2.5" LINK KARACDLOCAL:4/0055/Main 446}, some printers require a special format for draft fonts. For example,
some printers will not print two adjacent dots in draft mode. Special
draft fonts are designed to remain readable given these constraints.
Horizontal lines look jagged and vertical lines cannot be thicker than one
dot, but the text can be printed at least twice as fast as in letter
quality mode. This flag can be used to indicate that the font is optimized
for high speed printing (like the "Oberon_Draft_24" font on the Personal
Fonts Maker disks).


@{B}8.14       Fixed Pitch@{UB}

   This flag indicates that all characters in the font have the same width
("X Size"). This information is important for Amiga fonts. In a fixed
pitch Amiga font the "Kerning" and "Space" values assigned to each
character are ignored (they are not even saved). Fixed pitch Amiga fonts
occupy less space than similar proportionally spaced fonts, and can be
used to replace the Amiga "Topaz" default system font, as explained in
section @{"4.6" LINK KARACDLOCAL:4/2149/Main 263} ("Export Amiga Font").

   If this attribute is set, the Amiga FPF_PROPORTIONAL flag bit will be
cleared if the font is saved in the Amiga font format (section @{"4.6" LINK KARACDLOCAL:4/2149/Main 263},
"Export Amiga Font"). While this flag must be set to save a fixed-pitch
Amiga font, it is also important that all "On" characters in the font
being saved have the same "X Size".


@{B}8.15       Right to Left@{UB}

   This attribute indicates that the font was designed for text to be
printed from the right to the left, as in Hebrew. The Amiga documentation
calls this mode "Reverse Path".

   If this attribute is set, the Amiga FPF_REVPATH flag bit will be set if
the font is saved in the Amiga font format (section @{"4.6" LINK KARACDLOCAL:4/2149/Main 263}, "Export Amiga
Font"). Any texts in the dynamic view screen will also be displayed and
edited from right to left.


@{B}8.16       Landscape@{UB}

   A landscape font is designed to be used when the text is printed along
the vertical axis of a sheet of paper (or display). This is called @{I}
landscape@{UI} mode, and is often used to print large tables as they may appear
in spreadsheets. The font format information has the horizontal and
vertical density information reversed, i.e. "X Dpi" must be set to the
vertical density of the printer (in the normal mode), and "Y Dpi" to the
horizontal density.

@ENDNODE