CompuServe Messages

Mike (and SL and everybody else…) I'm sure I jumped into an argument on this before, but I might as well do it again… Having written programs which work with Type 1 fonts, I can state categorically: UNLESS YOU INCORPORATE A FULL POSTSCRIPT INTERPRETER INTO YOUR TYPE 1 MANIPULATION SOFTWARE, YOU HAVE NO ONE TO BLAME FOR IT NOT WORKING BUT YOURSELF!!!! (This goes for me too!) What no one here seems to want to admit is that Type 1 fonts are PostScript programs and as such, are intended for use with PostScript interpreters. If I write a program that dissects them, then I have to deal with them the same way a PS interpreter does, or I'm asking for trouble. Programs like PageStream DO NOT interprete the font like a PostScript device does; they parse it according to THEIR set of rules, expecting it to follow certain guidelines outlined by Adobe and based on a finite # of test fonts. More so than with most languages, PostScript allows a great deal of flexibility in its syntax. If SL and myself, and no doubt a number of other developers, have taken it upon ourselves to "short-cut" our way through Type 1 fonts, then we should at least take the blame when they don't always work out. The solution is simple: write a parser tested on every Type 1 font in existance or write a PostScript interpreter. Those are the only ways to absolve ourselves of this responsibility. Gary – Mirror Image Prod. (416) 495-7469, via WHAP!