On 3/30/2008 5:27 AM, Caecilius wrote:
> I've been using CG Omega to write my re****ts in MS Word for about ten
years
> now, and I'm looking for a better alternative for both on screen and HP
> laser printer.
>
> From reading and searching this group, I understand that CG Omega is
> actually a copy of Hermann Zapf's Optima, so this is one alternative. I
> also understand that Zapf Humanist 601 is another alternative.
>
> I have two questions that I hope someone can help me with:
>
> 1. Are there differences in quality between different fonts with the
same
> name?
>
> I'm thinking mainly of things like hinting and kerning here. I notice
that
> there are a few different sources for a font with the same name, and the
> font files are not identical.
>
> For example, the TrueType CG Omega that I currently use has version
> "Version 1.3 (Hewlett-Packard)", is dated 4th March 1998 and "contains
385
> glyphs and no standard kern pairs". I think this came from an HP
printer
> software disk. I have found another version on a free fonts website
that
> has version "Version 1.3 (ElseWare)", is dated 11th January 1995 and
> "contains 406 glyphs and no standard kern pairs".
>
> My worry is that with multiple fonts with the same name, and no obvious
> place to go to to check the font's ancestry and quality, how do I know
> which is the "best" font, and which may be a cheap copy (OK, in the case
of
> CG Omega perhaps they are all cheap copies, but you get my point).
>
> Is it a case of always going to the owner of the font to be sure of good
> quality? So Adobe for Optima and Bitstream for Zapf Humanist?
>
> Coming from a software background, I'm a bit surprised that there is not
> better version control for fonts, and digital signatures to prove that
they
> have not been altered.
>
> 2. Licencing
>
> Please correct me if I'm wrong here, but here's my understanding:
>
> It seems that CG Omega is essentially free as it's available for
download
> from HP and is available on several free font websites. I also cannot
find
> anywhere to buy it from.
>
> Optima seems to be only available as a paid-for font. No free downloads
> apart from obviously dogey sources which don't look legal to me.
>
> Zapf Humanist seems to be between the two. It is available paid-for
from
> places like MyFonts, but it's also offered at free font websites and is
> included on many font collection CDs.
>
> If I buy a copy of Zapf Humanist or Optima from somewhere like MyFonts,
> does my money go to the right people (I'd like to think that Hermann
Zapf
> would get some of it), or am I just paying a middle-man?
>
> If I download Zapf Humanist from a free fonts website, am I committing
> piracy, or just getting a bad-quality knockoff font (or maybe both)?
>
> No one I've spoken to seems to care much about font licensing. However
as
> my re****ts are part of a chargable service I want to make sure I stay on
> the right side of the law.
I have both CG Omega (HP, 1998, v.1.3) and Zapf Humanist 601 BT
(Bitstream, 1993, v.1.52) on my PC but not "installed". Omega has
Roman, Italic, Roman bold, and Italic bold. Humanist has only Roman.
While the Roman versions look almost the same, there are subtle
differences in weight and spacing. There are also significant
differences in the characters not in the A-Z, a-z, and 0-9 sequences.
The Omega font includes a glyph for the euro currancy while the Humanist
does not. If I were to install one, it would be the Omega.
--
David Ross
<http://www.rossde.com/>
Have you been using Netscape and now feel abandoned by AOL?
Then use SeaMonkey. Go to <http://www.seamonkey-project.org/>.
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