UNDERSTANDING FONTS AND
TYPEFACES
¢A ‘typeface’ is a family of
graphic characters that usually includes many type sizes and styles.
¢A ‘font’ is a collection of
characters of a single size and style belonging to a particular typeface
family.
¢The study of fonts and
typefaces includes the following:
Font styles include:
—Boldface
—Italic
—Underlining
—Outlining
Font size is measured in
points.
¢Character metrics are the general
measurements applied to individual characters.
¢Kerning is the spacing between
character pairs.
¢Leading is the space between
lines.
¢A capitalized letter is
referred to as 'uppercase', while a small letter is referred to as 'lowercase.‘
¢Placing an uppercase letter
in the middle of a word is referred to as intercap.
—Better recognize the words
used for variables in programming
¢Serif is the little
decoration at the end of a letter stroke.
¢Serif fonts are used for
body text.
¢Sans (without) serif fonts
do not have a serif at the end of a letter stroke.
¢These fonts are used for
headlines and bold statements.
The text elements used in multimedia are:
—Menus for navigation.
—Interactive buttons.
—Fields for reading.
—HTML documents.
—Symbols and icons.
¢Anti-aliased text must be
used when a gentle and blended look for titles and headlines is needed.
¢Ideas and concepts can be
highlighted by making the text bold or by emphasizing text.
¢A pleasant look can be
created by experimenting with different font faces, sizes, leadings, and
kerning.
MENUS FOR NAVIGATION
¢A user navigates through
content using a menu.
¢A simple menu consists of a
text list of topics.
INTERACTIVE BUTTONS
¢A button is a clickable
object that executes a command when activated.
¢Users can create their own
buttons from bitmaps and graphics.
¢The design and labeling of
the buttons should be treated as an industrial art project.
FIELDS FOR READING
¢Reading a hard copy is
easier and faster than reading from the computer screen.
¢A document can be printed
in one of two orientations - portrait or landscape.
¢The taller-than-wide
orientation used for printing documents is called portrait.
¢The wider-than-tall
orientation that is normal to monitors is called landscape.
¢PostScript is a method of
describing an image in terms of mathematical constructs.
¢PostScript characters are
scalable and can be drawn much faster. (compared to bitmap table)
¢Adobe developed Adobe Type
Manager for displaying PostScript fonts on both Macintosh and Windows.
¢Apple and Microsoft
developed the TrueType methodology.
¢TrueType is a system of
scalable outline fonts, and can draw characters at low resolution (72 dpi – 96
dpi)
¢The American Standard Code
for Information Interchange (ASCII) is a 7-bit coding system.
¢The extended character set
is commonly filled with ANSI standard characters.
¢The ISO-Latin-1 character
set is used while programming the text of HTML pages.
¢Unicode is a 16-bit
architecture for multilingual text and character encoding.
¢The shared symbols of each
character set are unified into collections of symbols called scripts.
Mapping across platforms:
—Fonts and characters are
not cross-platform compatible.
—They must be mapped to the
other machine using font substitution.
Hypertext is when words are keyed or indexed to
other words. The “text” part of this term represent the
project’s content and meaning, rather then the graphical presentation.
Storyboarding : determining how a user will
interact with and navigate through the content of a project
Authoring tools : these software tools are designed to managed
individual multimedia elements and provide multimedia interaction
Graphical User Interface (GUI) : the sum of what gets played back and how it is
presented to the viewer
Anti-aliased text must
be used when a gentle and blended look for titles and headlines is needed.
Ideas and concepts can be highlighted by making the
text bold or by emphasizing
text.
A pleasant look can be created by experimenting
with different font faces, sizes,
leadings, and kerning.
The Font Wars
PostScriptTrueType
PostScript is a method of describing an image in
terms of mathematical constructs
PostScript characters are scalable and can be drawn
much faster.
The two types of PostScript fonts are Type 3 and
Type 1.
Adobe developed Adobe Type Manager for displaying
PostScript fonts on both
Macintosh and Windows.
[TrueType]
Apple and Microsoft developed the TrueType
methodology.
TrueType is a system of scalable outline fonts, and
can draw characters at low resolution.
[Character Sets]
The American Standard Code for Information
Interchange (ASCII) is a 7-bit coding system.
The extended character set is commonly filled with
ANSI standard characters.
The ISO-Latin-1 character set is used while
programming the text of HTML pages.
Unicode is a 16-bit architecture for multilingual
text and character encoding.
The shared symbols of each character set are
unified into collections of symbols called scripts.
Mapping across platforms:
Fonts and
characters are not cross-platform compatible.
They must
be mapped to the other machine using font substitution.
[Font Editing and Design
Tools]
Macromedia Fontographer.
Creating attractive texts.
[Macromedia Fontographer]
Fontographer is a
specialized graphics editor.
It is compatible with both Macintosh and Windows
platform.
It can be used to develop PostScript, TrueType, and
bitmapped fonts.
It can also modify existing typefaces and
incorporate PostScript artwork.
[Creating Attractive Texts]
Applications that are used to enhance texts and
images include:
•Adobe
Photoshop
•TypeStyler
•COOL 3D
•HotTEXT
•TypeCaster
Hypertext is defined as the organized cross-linking
of words, images, and other Web elements.
A system in which words are keyed or indexed to
other words is referred to as a hypertext system.
A hypertext system enables the user to navigate
through text in a non-linear way.
[Using Hypertext Systems]
Information management and hypertext programs
present electronic text, images, and other elements in a database fashion.
Software robots visit Web pages and index entire
Web sites.
Hypertext databases make use of proprietary
indexing systems.
Server-based hypertext and database engines are
widely available.
[Searching for Words]
Typical methods for word searching in hypermedia
systems are:
•Categorical
search
•Word
relationship
•Adjacency
•Alternates
•Association
•Negation
•Truncation
•Intermediate
words
•Frequency
Links.
Nodes.
Anchors.
Navigating hypermedia structures.
Links are connections between conceptual elements.
Links are the navigation pathways and menus.
Nodes are accessible topics, documents, messages,
and content elements.
Nodes and links form the backbone of a knowledge
access system.
Anchor is defined as the reference from one
document to another document,
image, sound, or file on the Web.
The source node linked to the anchor is referred to
as a link anchor.
The destination node linked to the anchor is
referred to as a link end.
[Navigating Hypermedia
Structures]
The simplest way to navigate hypermedia structures
is via buttons.
Location markers must be provided to make
navigation user-friendly.
[Hypertext Tools]
Two functions common to most hypermedia text
management systems are building (authoring) and reading.
The functions of ‘builder’ are:
Creating
links.
Identifying
nodes.
Generating
an index of words.
Hypertext systems are used for:
Electronic
publishing and reference works.
Technical
documentation.
Educational
courseware.
Interactive
kiosks.
Electronic
catalogs.
