For years now there have been basically two different font formats floating around in the design world – PostScript Type 1 fonts and TrueType fonts. Without going into a bunch of boring techno-gobbledegook, the main difference between them is that PostScript fonts are used in serious design and publishing, and TrueType fonts are for dumb business stuff, like Word and Excel.
Of course the geniuses who came up with how PostScript fonts work thought it would be really neat to split one typeface into two separate files (a screen font file and a printer font file). That way if the files ever got separated the font would break and you couldn’t use it any longer. Makes perfectly good sense to me.
And so that’s a problem because they get separated all the time, so of course your design job gets ruined at the printer and your client is mad because their super-de-duper project is late, and you lose their business and can’t pay your bills and then have to find a new career.
Now – here’s a crazy idea (hold on to your latte) what if someone came up with a way to put the two files into a single file?
Introducing OpenType …the best of all worlds in a single file.
OpenType combines all the best features of PostScript and TrueType into a single file that can never be separated and works on both Mac and Windows. Now that’s commitment.
Of course the downside is that you might have to buy a whole new font library (only $2500!!!!!) if you want to use the newer OpenType format.
Want to just convert your old fonts to OpenType?
