If you have the OTF version, you don't need any of the others and should
uninstall them. Having more than one version installed-- OpenType (OTF),
TrueType (TTF), or PostScript (PFM)-- can lead to confusion in software
programs. The result can be that all show up in the font dropdown lists
and you don't know which to choose, or only one version shows up in the
list and it is not the one you want. Or you could end up mixing multiple
incongruent versions of the fonts.
Further, Gotham Regular, Gotham Book, and Gotham-Book may all have very
different metrics. Just because the names are similar does not mean they
are the same font. Each font foundry styles its fonts differently to set
themselves apart, and to avoid copyright violations of the same font
made by other foundries. These fonts, though they may have the same
name, can be very different in appearance and the number of glyphs they
contain. Just look at the many, many variations of Garamond that are
out there. *You will do well to go back to the person who instructed you
to use the font to find out which foundry's version they use and where
to buy it.* Or else, you could merely be using a similar font, but not
the right one.
I would note, too, that you probably don't just need your Gotham Book
typeface. You probably also need Gotham Italic, Gotham Bold, and Gotham
Bold-Italic. (I'm just guessing at the names of these fonts.) Otherwise,
you will not be able to include true italic, bold, or bold-italic text.
You want to avoid using the bold and italic styling buttons in
FrameMaker, as they may create pseudo-italic and pseudo-bold styles,
rather than embedding a true font. (That is, they artificially slant or
thicken the type on screen, but without having the font actually
installed on the system, cannot embed it in a PDF. This leads to big
surprises.) FrameMaker lists pseudo-styles as "obliqued" and "bolded" in
the font properties dialogues. Note the "ed" on the end of those words,
which is FM's way of signifying that they are faked, and should be avoided.
Regarding the text looking not quite right on screen. It could be
because you have the wrong foundry's version of the font. It could be
because you used obliqued or bolded text, instead of true italic
(oblique) or bold fonts. You might also check the
"DisplayUsingPrinterMetrics" setting in maker.ini. By default it is set
to "Off," which makes the type look best on screen at small sizes, but
makes the line ends not show properly. Most change it to "On," which
makes the lines end where you expect, but makes the kerning of the font
appear to be wrong. In any case, this setting changes the appearance of
type on screen (at small sizes), but does not affect proper printing.
Finally, as a side note, I would question the use of Gotham Book as a
body text font. Studies show that using a sans serif font for body text
greatly reduces reader comprehension. Sans serif fonts are best reserved
for headlines. So I'd recommend a serif font for body text. Check out
this table from pg. 47 of Colin Wheildon's excellent book, /Type &
Layout/
<http://www.amazon.com/Type-Layout-Communicating-Making-Pretty/dp/1875750223>:
Comprehension Level
Good
Fair
Poor
Serif body type
67
19
14
Sans serif type
12
23
65
Values are listed as percentages of readers in the sample.
1 Correct answer
4
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