Specifications

Choosing a Font

Although there are not many rules for choosing fonts, the

following guidelines will help you in creating attractive

documents that are easy to read:

Avoid using too many point sizes on one page. As a

general rule, use no more than three or four different point

sizes on one page.

Avoid using too many fonts. Having too many different

fonts on the page distracts the reader’s attention from the

meaning of the words.

Avoid using fonts that have designs similar to one another.

Generally a serif font is used for text and a sans serif font is

used for headings.

Printer and Screen Fonts

Fonts are installed on both the printer and the computer. The

printer fonts, which reside in printer memory or on a cartridge,

are used by the printer to print text. Screen fonts, which are

stored on your computer’s media, are used to display text on

screen to represent the fonts that will print. In most cases, each

printer font has a matching screen font, which ensures that the

screen display and the final printed output look exactly the

same.

Two separate sets of fonts are needed because the monitor and

printer have different requirements for producing fonts (for

more information, see “Bitmap and outline fonts” later in this

chapter).

3-4 Fonts