User Guide

Chapter 6: Text And Typography
Tips for font installation and use
On Windows systems, Canvas uses fonts installed in the Fonts folder. You can access the Fonts folder
via the Control Panel. Use the Install New Font command in the File menu to add fonts to your system.
You can also drag and drop font files or font file shortcuts to the Fonts folder. To specify that you
want to see only TrueType fonts in your programs, you can use the Options command in the Views
menu.
Canvas can use fonts that are properly installed as described above. If fonts that you use in another
application are not available in Canvas, that application probably stores its fonts in a different location
and has its own font management capabilities.
Guidelines for choosing fonts
There are three types of fonts widely available: PostScript, TrueType, and OpenType. You can’t
distinguish the three types in the Canvas menus; however, you should be aware of the different
types of fonts you have, because each font is best suited for particular purposes.
PostScript Type 1 fonts are the standard for image setting. PostScript produces high-quality
printed text. For onscreen display, however, PostScript needs screen fonts. If the screen
font for a particular point size is not installed, the text appears jagged onscreen. To
compensate for this, you can use Adobe Type Manager (ATM) software. If a screen font is
unavailable, ATM uses the PostScript printer font for both screen display and printing. In
addition, ATM lets you print PostScript fonts to non-PostScript printers.
TrueType fonts are suitable for most desktop publishing purposes when you are printing in-
house. TrueType fonts produce good quality printed text, and the onscreen appearance
closely resembles the printed output, even when the screen font is unavailable.
OpenType fonts are the solution to font sharing across platforms. Canvas offers basic
support for OpenType fonts, including vertical glyph substitutions in East-Asian fonts.
When typing in Canvas, all entered letters are not stored as Unicode characters, although they are
exported as such in some of the export formats; e.g., HTML or SVG. However, the current
script/code-page of the font is used (obtained from the system). Thus, the user can type in his
regional alphabet if the user has the right font that supports it; e.g., Arial-CE for a Central European
languages or MSMincho for Japanese.
Specifying type size
Choose from standard type sizes using either the Properties bar, Text menu, Type palette, or Fonts
palette. To reduce or increase a font size in 1-point increments, choose Text | Size. You can also
increase/decrease text size in 1-point increments by using the keyboard commands Ctrl+Shift+<
(Reduce) or Ctrl+Shift+> (Increase).
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