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Date:         Thu, 24 Sep 1992 08:15:52 -0500
Reply-To: vilva@viikki21.helsinki.fi
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From: VILVA@VIIKKI21.HELSINKI.FI
Subject:      TECH:  Some thoughts on using fonts + uuencoded demo.dvi
X-To:         lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu
To: Erik Rauch <erikr@MINERVA.CIS.YALE.EDU>
Status: RO
X-Status: 
Message-ID: <KvahGONHSND.A.ClC.w80kLB@chain.digitalkingdom.org>

I have done quite a lot of experimenting with various fonts
and ended up using sans serif for Lojban text. Generally
I don't like this font but I found out it was quite nice for
Lojban which is predominantly lower case.

As lojbab pointed out there are circumstances where the use
of non-proportional fonts makes life easier but sometimes
also aesthetical reasons may make such fonts preferable.
When I was preparing a LaTeX formatted gismu list I found
out that using typewriter font for the entry word gismu
produced a quite pleasing result as all the gismu are
exactly 5 letters long -- sans serif looked quite bad
at that position and so did roman.

In a mixed English/Lojban text I think the best result is
achieved using proportional fonts throughout. Mixing roman
and typewriter fonts sometimes produces just plain awful
results. Single words in typewriter font aren't too bad
but in strings of words the interword spaces are quite
conspicuous.

Lojban only text is more enigmatic. Somehow I don't like
to use roman font. Typewriter font is OK but it is, well,
like typewritten. It doesn't so much bring computers to
my mind as an ancient Underwood typewriter I was using in
my childhood (the only computer with courier output I have
ever used was the IBM 1620 I was trying to abuse in the
spring of -64 when I was supposed to be doing some undergrad
numerical analysis home work. I can still hear the 10cps
clak-clak and the heavy thud of the carrier return of the
console typewriter in my ears -- miraculously the beast never
broke down.)

I did experiments with some fancy fonts but they were too
fancy for everyday use.

The sans serif variety of fonts looks reasonable even when
used for larger bodies of continuous Lojban text. It gives
the text a quite distinctive look, perhaps even more
'computerish' than the typewriter fonts. And the apostrophes,
being heavier than those of the roman fonts, are clearly
visible despite the proportionality of the font.

The design and choice of fonts is both an aesthetical and
a pragmatical matter. Given the necessary technical facilities
and the required know-how -- and time -- the choice can be based
on aesthetical considerations only but usually there are some
constraints which limit the choices available. There is no
panacea -- and different people, of course, prefer different
solutions.

   Veijo

------------------------------------------------------------

For those with facilities to print out TeX DVI files.
Here is a demonstration of the use of typewriter and
sans serif fonts in various Lojbanic circumstances.

BEGIN------------------- UUENCODED --------------------------
begin 644 demo.dvi
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`
end
END------------------- DEMO.DVI 1/1 --------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------

 Veijo Vilva       vilva@viikki21.helsinki.fi