Mac fonts issue on windows

mihirdm · Jun 13, 2008

Hi friends,
I am new to macintosh. i am a windows user. i am trying to develop some images in a mac font available in macintosh. but the issue is that when i create images with that font gives a different effect as compared to the same image developed in the same font on a macintosh machine. Kindly help me with this issue.

xstep · Jun 13, 2008

iWeb sometimes creates images for the text that will get displayed onto a browser. Maybe you should try that.

You have to remember each platform has fonts that do not exist on other platforms, so a generic font gets substituted. If you use CSS and the browser behaves, you can have some control over that by listing the fonts in order of importance for each tag.

mihirdm · Jun 13, 2008

Thanks xstep for taking out time to respond to my thread. i get the point that there is something called iweb that can help me achieve the same font effect on windows as i would have got on mac. but after that i do not get the rest of the part. i would appreciate if you elaborate it further. thx a million.

xstep · Jun 14, 2008

In you original post you say you are trying to develop images. Images are pictures. Given your message is in the web forum, I'm assuming what you are really trying to do is create a web page and apply Mac specific fonts. If you are really creating images, I don't see why that would display differently on a Windows box, beyond the gamma difference.

I only referred to iWeb because it is known to turn whole paragraphs of text into a large image. I'm not suggesting you actually use it. Perhaps if it is critical you could do what it does. I wouldn't consider that a solution beyond very small sections.

It sounds to me you are new to web design too, so I suggest you learn the basics of that first and a bit about the fact absolute control is a pipe dream. Look into common fonts that are cross platform for web pages.

mihirdm · Jun 14, 2008

I am trying to create an image on windows OS with some text on it in the same font as other images that are created on macintosh with the same font. however when i try to create images with the same font on windows os, the colour effects are the same but the font effect is not the same as that of mac os i.e. the font is not displaying correctly. i have the same font on both the machines but still the output is different. i hope that clarifies the situation. i am new to mac and so i am facing this issue. thanks for your valuable response.

xstep · Jun 15, 2008

I don't know. Perhaps this is just a difference of kerning and perhaps other typography differences between the two operating systems.

You are likely best served by using one tool on one platform. I believe even Word has some display differences between the two platforms.

You are pretty much out of my domain, so I'll leave this thread to any other interested parties.

louishen · Jun 15, 2008

It would be helpful if we knew what prgrams you are using

but by default, the mac os uses a different anti aliasing scheme. Macs (due to their trdaitional strenghts in print and design) blur the font to best match the original fonts look as it would appear in print. Windows forc3es the font in to the closest it can get to a pixel map that would make the font more readable on a display.

In short (unless you are using programs like Fireworlks on both platforms) the mac matches the look of the printed font, windows sacrifices some of the look of the font to make it display clearer

mihirdm · Jun 15, 2008

well the mac image is created in dreamweaver and the one on windows is also created in dreamweaver. but still the difference arises, so I am not sure where to look for a clue.

bobdaspider · Jun 24, 2008

If one is concerned with Mac fonts looking different when viewed on a Windows platform, one option - if the font is a header, or part of a button, is to convert the text to an image (GIF) using say Adobe Illustrator.

Re body copy, unless your gonna use flashtext (Dreamweaver facility), safer to only specify one of the 6 recommended 'universal' cross-platform internet friendly fonts (eg. Arial, Times, Verdana...)

Re Mac and Windows and fonts... I have found it safer (ie. consistent and effective) to specify ALL fonts in pixels - which ensures that fonts remain/look the same size irrespective of platform and browser.

Hope this helps.

^o^

PS. All that glitters aint necessarily Gold...