Re: Using fonts > 255 points

[dlyons@Apple.COM (David A Lyons)]

In article <9212052139.AA20956@chasm.scar.utoronto.ca> 90taobri@chasm.scar.utoronto.ca (Brian Tao) writes:
>[...] Let's assume I have an all caps font with long, deep swashes and
>serifs.  Is it possible for the *physical* height (i.e., the font bounds
>rectangle) of the font to exceed 255 pixels?  I seem to remember (and I
>don't have my Apple IIGS Technical Reference handy) that the height of the
>font rectangle is a word value.  Even if this is a signed integer, that
>allows for a 32767-pixel tall font.

I don't know of anything that would stand in the way of the physical height
being more than 255 pixels.  But I'm sure it hasn't been tested.  If you do
some experiments, I'd be interested to know how they turn out.

>Secondly, am I correct in assuming there is no constant relationship
>between "point size" and actual pixel height from font to font?  That is,
>one font at 72 points may actually only be 65 pixels tall, but another at
>the same point size (like that all caps font I mentioned) is really 90
>pixels tall.

Correct, there is not necessarily any relationship across fonts.

Within one font family, though, there should be a linear relationship
between point size and actual pixel height.  Things will get weird with
printing if there isn't.

(Things are weird to some degree with printing anyway, but they would be
Weirder if point size X*N was not very close to X times as large as point
size N of the same font.)
-- 
David A. Lyons, Apple Computer, Inc.      |   DAL Systems
Apple II System Software Engineer         |   P.O. Box 875
Internet:dlyons@apple.com                 |   Cupertino, CA 95015-0875

My opinions are my own, not Apple's.