Need to Print Fixed-pitch fonts with Fixed Pitches!

PabloMack

PabloMack

SciEngArtist
I was happy to find that I can place Unicode text into Title Frames using any of the TrueType/OpenType scalable fonts. However, I was dismayed that fixed-pitch fonts are printed as though they were variable-pitched fonts. Many of you who are not programmers may not appreciate the justification for and therefore the need for fixed-pitch fonts. Programming languages almost always use fixed-pitch fonts because it is extremely important to be fully aware of each and every character that is in the source code. Readers of prose text can fill-in-the-blanks and overlook characters that they don't see without losing the jist of a passage. However, compilers and other software text interpreters are not so forgiving. TrueType/OpenType fonts are explicitly declared as either fixed-pitch or variable pitch for good reason. Why is it then that those of you developing the code for SpeedEDIT at Newtek decided to defeat the purpose for this distinction? I have a project that I would have liked to use SpeedEDIT for developing a programming training series but this bad behavior makes SpeedEDIT unsuitable for this project. How sad.

Here is an example of SpeedEDIT's ill behavior with regard to printing fixed-pitch fonts. Below I show how my programming editor displays a program statement:

PhiEdit.png

Here is the same statement printed in SpeedEDIT:

SpeedEDIT.png

Note how the decimal point is squeezed between the '3' and '1' and how the semicolon is jammed up against the last numeric. This is BAD. At least you should provide a click box to force fixed-pitch text to be printed as fixed-pitch. Better yet, just print it as it was intended to be displayed. If you don't like to use fixed-pitch fonts, don't. Use variable-pitched fonts instead. It's really that simple.
 
I just tried it. Interesting. Might be useful in the future. It scales all existing spacing but can't enforce equal spacing. To put enough spacing at one place puts too much space in other places. It only scales variable pitch and maintains the same relative variable pitch between characters. It is always applied to the whole line.

It looks like my only option is kerning of individual characters. It's not too difficult. I might have to print a grid first and then adjust all characters so that they are equally spaced and so all character columns will be lined up. Sort of a ***** to have to do this just to get it to look like it should have by default. But don't you agree? Fixed-pitch fonts should be printed with fixed pitch! Now I am stuck with "fix the *****" fonts. ;)
Kerning of individual characters is the only thing that makes this project a "go" with SpeedEdit.

Thanks for you help.
 
PabloMack said:
I just tried it. Interesting. Might be useful in the future. It scales all existing spacing but can't enforce equal spacing. To put enough spacing at one place puts too much space in other places. It only scales variable pitch and maintains the same relative variable pitch between characters. It is always applied to the whole line.

It looks like my only option is kerning of individual characters. It's not too difficult. I might have to print a grid first and then adjust all characters so that they are equally spaced and so all character columns will be lined up. Sort of a ***** to have to do this just to get it to look like it should have by default. But don't you agree? Fixed-pitch fonts should be printed with fixed pitch! Now I am stuck with "fix the *****" fonts. ;)
Kerning of individual characters is the only thing that makes this project a "go" with SpeedEdit.

Thanks for you help.
Click to expand...


I guess I agree that SE should work with everything perfectly all the time yes.

:)

If it helps at all to be less of a pain in the a$#, with the cursor between two letters, hold down alt and hit right or left arrow. that will allow you to effect tracking between each letter individually.

Also there is a grid you can turn on, adjust the spacing and snap to within the titler. Might help also, but honestly I am a little lost trying to picture exactly what you are doing, but I had to google variable/fixed pitch fonts just to keep up to begin with. ;)
 
The method you described is the "kerning of individual characters" that I was talking about. I did stumble across it in the User Guide. Thank you for the suggestion.

You must be pretty young to not know about fixed-pitch fonts (or have little exposure to the software development world). In the early days of DOS and character terminals, that's all we had. Even today, programmers always use fixed-pitch to display their source code. To use variable-pitch is only asking for trouble. So when I develop a training video showing source code, I want it to look exactly like what my viewers are going to see when they write source code themselves. Does this make sense?
 
"Jim C": Your avatar looks like a road crossing sign warning about maids walking their vacuum cleaners across the road. Is that what it is supposed to look like?

By the way, mine is the official logo for the Phi Parallel Programming Language. I have been developing software development tools on and off since 1988 (conceived in 1986 and it has been a very long road). I have a working editor and parser. There is nothing like it in the world. Even now, it is still years (if not decades) ahead of its time. It is a training video series for this technology that I need fixed-pitch fonts for. I would love to use SpeedEDIT to produce this series.

I would like to see your demo reel. Is it posted on the web somewhere?
 
PabloMack said:
"Jim C": Your avatar looks like a road crossing sign warning about maids walking their vacuum cleaners across the road. Is that what it is supposed to look like?
Click to expand...

hahahahaha

kind of.

More fish than maids though

4238492672_9589fd1b11_z.jpg
 
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