How to Postscript Fonts

PostScript fonts are written in the PostScript page description language,
and they need to be processed by a PostScript interpreter before they can be
imaged. (See “The PostScript Model” in for more information on
PostScript interpreters.) For high-resolution printers and imagesetters, this
interpreter is generally built into the device itself; it’s a separate onboard
computer dedicated to turning PostScript code into printable output. For
lower-resolution devices, such as computer monitors and desktop printers,
PostScript fonts can be imaged by a PostScript interpreter built into the operating
system. PostScript fonts are generally accompanied by a set of bitmapped
fonts for screen display, and unless these screen fonts are installed alongside
the outline fonts, your computer cannot image their type. Even though your
computer may not use the screen fonts’ bitmapped images, it relies on the font
metrics contained within the screen fonts to compose type using their companion
outline fonts. This is an artifact of older technology, but it continues
to function perfectly well.

The several kinds of PostScript fonts are distinguished from one another
by number. The only one you’re likely to come across is Type 1, and it’s only
mentioned here because of references you may come across to “PostScript
Type 1” fonts. In publishing and typesetting contexts, when you talk about a
PostScript font, it’s assumed you’re talking about the Type 1 variety.
Until the advent of the OpenType font format, PostScript fonts were the
standard of the publishing industry. Today the PostScript format has been completely
overtaken by OpenType, and most type vendors, including Adobe, have
converted their entire libraries of PostScript fonts into the OpenType format.
PostScript fonts continue to be fully supported by applications and operating
systems, which is a good thing, because there are literally millions of them still
in circulation and daily use. They are, however, platform specific, and different
versions of a font are required for Macintosh and Windows.


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