Palatino Word vX and Leopard ?

[Norm]

A beginner question.

I'm about to update to Word 2008 but I'm still using Word vX.

When I upgraded from Tiger to Leopard, I noticed that Palatino screen
font in bold shows some letters "incorrectly" at least compared to what
I'm accustom to over the years. Print bold is OK.

Also, I noticed that in Excel vX the screen zeroes (normal not bold) had
a different look than they did in Tiger.

Is this possible or is it my aging eyes?

And if this makes sense is there a fix?

Thanks for any tips.

 

[thg]

I noticed that Palatino screen

font in bold shows some letters "incorrectly"

You might check to make sure you are not still using the OS 9 version of Palatino from the 1990's.

 

[Norm]

You might check to make sure you are not still using the OS 9 version of
Palatino from the 1990's.

How would I do that?

Thanks.

 

[John McGhie]

Read up on Font Book in the Apple help ‹ that will show you how to check
which versions you actually have in use.

Cheers

How would I do that?

Thanks.

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[Norm]

Read up on Font Book in the Apple help ‹ that will show you how to check
which versions you actually have in use.

Cheers

OP Back.

I looked in Font Book. Thanks.

Palatino looks fine there.

It gave this as the type:
Palatino; 3.8; 2006-02-23


The more I look at it the worse it looks in Excel (especially the
zeroes).

In Word vX the problem is in Bold.

Any additional suggestions appreciated. Thanks for the help.

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Norm -

"Looking" at it in Font Book is only part of the battle The info you
quoted is the same as what I have here, so it is current. However, that
doesn't mean it's not problematic.

Once selected in Font Book did you then use File> Validate Font?

Also - from a different direction - you might also check Apple Menu> System
Preferences> Appearance for your current Font Smoothing settings & try
adjusting them to see if it will render better screen results.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Norm]

Thanks. See below:

Once selected in Font Book did you then use File> Validate Font?

Nope. :-(

But now I did. It was OK.

Also - from a different direction - you might also check Apple Menu> System
Preferences> Appearance for your current Font Smoothing settings & try
adjusting them to see if it will render better screen results.

Ahh...that helped.

Much improved in both Word (bold type was the main problem) and Excel.
Zeroes are still a "little off" in Excel but that is OK. (might be the
old...older eyes and bifocals )

This issue came about when I went from Tiger to Leopard. At that time, I
left the Appearance settings the same on Leopard as I had on Tiger. I've
now changed the Font Smoothing to Strong (I'm on a Powerbook G4) and
that improved it.

Thanks very much.

PS I'm now about to install Office 2008. That will probably change the
fonts, or something else, and this rookie will be back asking for some
assistance. Thanks again.

 

[CyberTaz]

Glad it was useful - and thanks for the confirmation.

I've seen similar concerns with a number of the older True Type fonts.

What you'll find in 2008 is support for Unicode as well as some new fonts
form MS that are particularly well done. Who knows, they may even wean you
off of Palatino

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Norm]

What you'll find in 2008 is support for Unicode as well as some new fonts
form MS that are particularly well done. Who knows, they may even wean you
off of Palatino

Hmmm.....well I'll learn more about fonts. That's a good thing.

But leaving Palatino. I dunno.

Not sure how I ever selected Palatino. Maybe it was when I bought my
first Mac or when I bought Word 5.1a. I liked it way back then and still
do. I use Palatino for most correspondence from emails to snail and have
ended up using for my calendar program (NUTD) and probably much more. I
suspect it is an older font and there are probably other reasons that I
"should" change.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[John McGhie]

Have a look at Cambria.

It's a serif like Palatino, but it's a much more modern font designed to
look good on both screen and paper. It also has a much wider range of
characters than the old Mac fonts.

The benefit of Palatino was that it had a heavier stroke weight than Times
New Roman, which made it perform better on the old low-res screens,
printers, and photocopiers it was designed for.

The education market loved Palatino because you could get away with a
fifth-generation photocopy

Cambria is lighter than Palatino, but it's still warmer and more solid than
the wispy and over-kerned Times New Roman (in MY opinion!!).

Since I began using Cambria and Calibri at work, I have noticed that I have
now begin to change both documents and spreadsheets to the new fonts if I
have to look at them for any length of time

Cheers

Hmmm.....well I'll learn more about fonts. That's a good thing.

But leaving Palatino. I dunno.

Not sure how I ever selected Palatino. Maybe it was when I bought my
first Mac or when I bought Word 5.1a. I liked it way back then and still
do. I use Palatino for most correspondence from emails to snail and have
ended up using for my calendar program (NUTD) and probably much more. I
suspect it is an older font and there are probably other reasons that I
"should" change.

Thanks for all the help.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[Norm]

Have a look at Cambria.

Thanks.

Off to do so. I tried some others that I found on a google search but I
didn't find any fonts that I liked as much as Palatino.

Appreciate the help.

 

[Norm]

Have a look at Cambria.

Should I have that font from either Leopard or Word?

Couldn't find it.

Thanks.

 

[John McGhie]

You need either Office 2008 or the Office Open XML Converter installed.
That installs the "C-series" compatibility fonts: Cambria and Calibri are
amongst them...

The converter is a free download from:
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.mspx?pid=&fid=2A8D9A3B-B8A4-43B6-82A6
-A2E7D16AE11D#viewer

You will need OS X 10.4.9 or later to run it.

Cheers

Should I have that font from either Leopard or Word?

Couldn't find it.

Thanks.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[Phillip Jones, C.E.T.]

What's your opinion of ITC Benguait. I love it on screen and Printed.

Both Arial or Helvetica put me to sleep reading it.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Phillip:

My opinion really doesn't matter However, I think ITC Benguait is "a
font that I would have to pay for!" and I am far too mean to do that

However, it's really not to my taste: too fussy and old-fashioned.

I really do like Calibri. To ME, it's simple, direct, and minimalist;
without being simplistic or harsh.

Fortunately, the world is full of people who have a different opinion

Cheers

What's your opinion of ITC Benguait. I love it on screen and Printed.

Both Arial or Helvetica put me to sleep reading it.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[Phillip Jones, C.E.T.]

I noticed that Cambri(?) is the default Font for Office 2008 and Times
New Roman is for 2004. I've gone into set for normal and changed to
Benguait, Now I have to find my copy of Bookman and add to this
computer. I Like that when using Excel.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Phillip:

Hmmm... This could get complicated.

In a .docx document, there IS a "Default Font". This is a change from
previous versions, where there wasn't!

In the previous file format, "Normal style" had a default font, which you
could change, and that would become the default font for the document.
There was also a hard-coded "default default" of Times New Roman, which came
into play if the user did not set up their Normal Style.

But it was not correct to say that the "Document" had a default font. The
effect was the same, but the default belonged to the Normal style.

This only became important when you were creating templates and needed to
now this trivia.

In Word 2008, there is a new mechanism. It introduces a new level of
abstraction (some would say 'distraction').

Now, the Document DOES have a "Default Font" and it is "Theme Body". There
is another one ‹ "Theme Heading" as well. But of course, these are not the
names of the fonts

In 2008, you then have to set the "set" of fonts by choosing a Theme. When
you do that, "Theme Body" and "Theme Heading" get values.

In about half of the Themes, Theme Body is set to Cambria, and Theme Heading
to Calibri. In the others, they're swapped.

But the big change is that Normal Style now does NOT have a default font.
In fact, ALL of its properties are "Undefined", which enables the Themes to
work.

The recommendation when dealing with Word 2007/8 is to leave the Normal
style blank and assign values such as fonts only to the "other" styles.
This enables Word to use the Normal style for internal purposes such as
graphics and tables.

Sadly the mechanisms to control all of this are only partly implemented in
Word 2007, and not at all in Word 2008.

Forget I said anything ...

Cheers

I noticed that Cambri(?) is the default Font for Office 2008 and Times
New Roman is for 2004. I've gone into set for normal and changed to
Benguait, Now I have to find my copy of Bookman and add to this
computer. I Like that when using Excel.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]