7.5

Encoding tables are tables computers use to map keystrokes to font glyphs. Your keystroke generates a numeric code and the
computer consults an encoding table for the Helvetica font. The encoding table tells the computer which glyph is associated
with that numeric code, in this case the glyph for the upper case ‘A’. The computer displays the upper case ‘A’ glyph for the Hel-
vetica font on the screen.
Why have different encoding tables?
The obvious immediate strategy was to extend the ASCII character set. Each character in the standard ASCII character set fits
in a single byte, but it uses only seven of the eight bits in the byte to represent characters. Using the full 8 bits of a byte to rep-
resent a character increased the number of characters you could represent from 128 to 255 and made it possible to represent
many more languages.
Other strategies also developed for multi-byte character sets, such as those for the Chinese, Japanese and Korean languages.
Encoding Tables in PlanetPress Design
Encoding tables can vary across platforms. When you create your documents in PlanetPress Design, you want to ensure that
the input data the document receives maps to the correct glyphs in the output. You use encoding tables to make any necessary
adjustments.
In PlanetPress Design you specify the encoding table you want a given style to use, or you define your own encoding table for
that style. You can rearrange the glyphs in the encoding table, altering the glyph associated with a specific numeric code. You
can also add glyphs to the encoding table from the list of all glyphs in the font. Not all glyphs in a font necessarily appear in an
encoding table.
You also specify an encoding table for the font you select to display the sample data file in the Data Pane.
There are four key points to keep in mind as you work with encoding tables in PlanetPress Design:
1. A font usually contains more glyphs than an encoding table references.
2. Different fonts have different glyphs. If you use two different fonts, there may be differences in the glyphs available in
each.
3. Different encoding tables reference different glyphs and/or may place the same glyphs in different positions. If you use
the same font but a different encoding table, the glyph that represents a given input character may change.
4. You can edit the encoding table a style uses, and adjust both the glyphs the encoding table references and the positions
of those glyphs within the encoding table. You cannot edit the encoding table for the font you use to display the sample
data file.The output of the document always reflects what appears in the data selections on the document page.
Font Encoding Editor
The Font Encoding Editor displays the current encoding table for the style and is used to edit the encoding table if necessary.
The encoding table is style-specific. Editing the encoding table for one style does not affect the table for another style,
even if it uses the same font. Encoding tables are saved in the PlanetPress Document (.pp7 file).
Font Encoding Options:
l View:Use the drop-down to control the information that appears above each glyph in the table. The encoding table cur-
rently associated with the font determines the values associated with each glyph.
l Select Name to display the name of glyph.
l Select Decimal to display the position of each glyph in the encoding table as a decimal value.
l Select Hex to display the position of each glyph in the encoding table as a hexadecimal value.
l Select ANSI to display the ANSI equivalent of each glyph.
Fonts and Styles
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