Q. | Is TrueType Open a new font format? |
A. | No. TrueType Open fonts are TrueType fonts with extensions. TrueType Open introduces new table structures that contain additional typographical data. |
Q. | To ensure compatibility, do I need to revise all my fonts to be TrueType Open fonts? |
A. | No. TrueType fonts that do not contain TrueType Open information are still valid fonts. A client can determine which, if any, TrueType Open features a font contains and make decisions accordingly. |
Q. | Can I use TrueType Open fonts on Windows 3.1x? |
A. | Yes. Because the basic TrueType font format has not changed, TrueType Open fonts can be used by operating systems and applications that support TrueType but do not implement TrueType Open functionality. |
Q. | Which TrueType Open features are supported by Windows 95? |
A. | A text-processing client can access all TrueType Open tables by using the GetFontData API and requesting a TrueType Open table by name. The client is responsible for placing text appropriately according to the information retrieved. |
Q. | Is Microsoft developing tools for creating TrueType Open fonts? |
A. | Microsoft is working with Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) to enhance their font development tools to handle TrueType Open information. Internally, Microsoft uses a proprietary tool for assembling TrueType Open binary tables from TrueType Open data in text format. |
Q. | What is the difference between Apple's TrueType GX and Microsoft's TrueType Open? |
A. | TrueType Open and TrueType GX address some of the same issues, especially those arising from one-to-one relationships between characters and glyphs. However, TrueType Open has a richer two-dimensional positioning model than TrueType GX. TrueType Open also contains explicit script and language support, so a text-processing application can adjust its behavior accordingly. |
Another major difference between the two font formats is that TrueType GX fonts contain state machines, which choose and position glyphs. This format requires that clients follow a particular model of text processing, and TrueType GX fonts are difficult for a client to decode. In comparison, TrueType Open fonts are simple to read and support clients in making their own decisions regarding text processing. |