[pdftex] size of glyphs in postscript fonts

[Robin Fairbairns]

> When I switch from Computer Modern to another font, like Times, the size
> of the glyphs changes too. This means that although I want the text to
> be typeset at 11pt, the result looks like it was typeset at 12pt: The
> linebreaks are at different positions and there are fewer words on a
> line.
> 
> Is this the correct behaviour?

yes (with some interpretation of what you say).

> Shouldn't fonts at the same size give, at
> least approximately, the same output?

different designers have different subjective measures -- read knuth
and you'll see him warning that "10pt" is a label rather than a
measure.

the best you can hope is that fonts of the same family fit together.
try fitting two wildly different families together, and you see chaos
(cf. the psnfss times.sty defaults of times, helvetica and courier ...
fonts that couldn't fit together with the most earnest relationship
counselling).  this is why there's so much talk of compatibility
("what font do i use for \tt when i'm using font <x> for \rm?").

> Is it possible to scale the fonts to their correct size? I've seen that
> the tfm-file has a parameter design-size. Is this the right place for
> manipulation?

definitely not.  put a scale factor into your map file (and name the
result something different): the pslatex bundle does this to bludgeon
ptm/phv/pcr together, and you can use it as an example.

but in the last analysis, if you want to use times, you must surely
have some reason: if you don't like the way it looks (as apparently
you don't) why are you bothering in the first place?

robin