pdftex + truetype + reencoding : more

[Taco Hoekwater]

Philip A. Viton wrote:
> Is there any reason why TTFs couldn't be treated essentially the way pfb
> fonts are treated - ie ignoring windows registration completely? After all,
> all one wants to do is to insert the encoding vector plus (parts of) the
> binary into the  .pdf file.

This is what ghostscript does and this explains why GS is OK while the
Reader isn't. For the Reader, *any* locally installed font takes
precedence over the one included in the PDF doc. This is true on all
systems the Reader runs on, and Adobe considers this to be a feature.

Unfortunately, the decision the Reader makes whether or not the local
font is the same as the included one is almost solely based on the
name of the font. For instance, Kinch' TTFs take precedence over
included Y&Y PS versions.

For PS fonts, the Reader/ATM does a reasonable job reencoding etc.,
but for TTF fonts it has to rely on Windows itself to do-the-right-
thing. As we all know, Windows hardly ever does-the-right-thing, so
this is where the trouble starts. 

Windows re-encodes the installed fonts on startup, and it refuses to
use chars 0..32 and 160 at that stage. If a font is loaded later by a
program, Windows can be forced into believing a font is actually
symbolic instead of a text font, and then it is willing to use
1..31. But then it's too late for fonts that were already loaded.
Windows positively hates char 0, and I think char 32 *has* to be
_space_; 160 *has* to be _nbspace_.

The only reliable workaround I have found so far is deleting all TTF
files from my Windows installation and never ever using TTFs in PDF
docs. Your luck may vary, and it might even work OK if you use a
Windows program to create your PDF (through the pdfdumper), but if you
need a TTF in TeX I'd strongly advise to convert the font to Type1
first. Using ATM 4.0 helps as well (put all TTFs in a disabled group
and turn off auto-activation), but not in all cases.

Greetings, Taco

-- 
Taco Hoekwater                                 taco.hoekwater at wkap.nl
Kluwer Academic Publishers                            -- Pre Press --
Achterom 119, 3311 KB Dordrecht, The Netherlands  tel.  31-78-6392550
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