Font packages for Windows - Bitstream's FaceLift and Adobe Systems' Adobe Type Manager - Pick of the Month - Software Review - evaluation

Software Magazine, Dec, 1990 by Jon Pepper

FONT PACKAGES FOR WINDOWS

The market for products that enhance Microsoft Windows is hot, and the hottest niche is the font area. Two excellent products can significantly improve the way Windows shows fonts on screen, as well as the way it prints to dot matrix and laser printers.

Facelift, from Bitstream, Cambridge, Mass., and Adobe Type Manager, from Adobe Systems, Mountain View, Calif., perform similar functions: both can turn the jagged, rough-looking appearance of Window's screen fonts into smooth, typographic-looking letters. Plus, both programs can scale printer fonts on the fly for nonPostScript printers, including HP LaserJets (and compatibles) and even dot matrix printers.

The advantages here are manifold. First, by matching on-screen type appearance to printed output, Windows applications look more pleasing, and productivity increases because line and page breaks match printed output.

More importantly, users can get scalable fonts from a wide variety of printers. This capability opens up a new world of quality for dot matrix users. Users who are not using PostScript printers can now get the advantage of on-the-fly font scaling--eliminating the need to waste large amounts of disk space storing bit-mapped fonts.

Adobe Type Manager for Windows retails for $99, and installs easily under Windows 3.0. Once installed, the product operates automatically, though various parameters of the program can be modified, such as the size of the font cache. ATM comes with 13 Adobe fonts, including four wights (Roman, Italic, Bold and Bold Italic) of Times, Helvetica and Courier, along with a Symbol set.

Additional typeface packages are available from Adobe, including the Plus Pack, a $198 product that adds 22 fonts to the basic package. ATM is compatible with any Adobe PostScript Type 1 font, as well as PostScript fonts from other companies.

ATM produces on-the-fly fonts with acceptable speed and integrates seamlessly with Windows applications. The improvement in dot matrix output makes he printers suitable for use as proofing devices for desktop publishing. The drawback is the ATM does not support non-PostScript faces.

Bitstream's $99 FaceLift offers similar capabilities, but in some ways is more versatile that ATM. Facelift also ships with 13 fonts, including Swiss and Dutch (Bitstream's versions of Helvetica and Times Roman), along with Park Avenue, Cooper Black, Brush Script and Formal Script. The advantage is that the Adobe faces are already contained in the basic PostScript type set. That is, if you are using ATM with a PostScript printer you do not get any additional typographic value from the basic package, whereas FaceLift contains more useful printer fonts.

Like ATM, FaceLift installs easily and works automatically with Windows. Unlike ATM, FaceLift's control panel offers more options and better control. Its font cache automatically reloads the most recently used fonts from your last Windows session, and the prodcut allows you to control the print density for dot matrix or ink jet printers.

Another advantage of FaceLift is that it works with Bitstream's extensive library of Speedo format fonts, and can generate soft fonts for HP LaserJet printers.

Bitstream sells a FaceLift Value Pack ($199) with 24 typefaces that will work with FaceLift, along with the rest of their growing Speedo format type library. The company also has the Companion Pack for PostScript ($199), which provides screen fonts to PostScript printers.

Both products perform well. Reommending one package over the other is difficult, but you don't necessarily have to choose: It's possible to use both products with Windows.