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Fonts
What is a font?
A font refers to a set of printable characters in a partic-
ular typeface of a specific size (e.g. 12 point) and style
(e.g. roman, bold or bold-italic). In computer printing,
however, this term has been used in a wider context to
refer to all sizes and styles of a particular typeface. In
printers, fonts may be divided into two basic types: bit-
map fonts and scalable (or outline) fonts.
Bitmap fonts are made up of a pattern of dots (at the
printer resolution) to form the image of each printable
character. These are of a fixed size and scaling makes
them look ragged.
Scalable fonts are stored as a set of mathematical
curves. At print time, the printer uses the stored curves
to make up a bitmap of each character required, at the
required size in the required style, at the full printer res-
olution. Such fonts are therefore said to be scalable and
do not appear ragged at enlarged sizes.
Using fonts
The easiest way to select fonts is through the software
program being used. Software programs send printer
commands that consist of a set of codes, one for each of
the font characteristics. If the software program has the
appropriate driver, fonts can be specified and the neces-
sary commands will be sent to the printer. For more de-
tailed information on how to select fonts in a software
program, refer to the documentation for that software
program.