Re: big fat shape table fonts?

[mjmahon@aol.com (Michael J. Mahon)]

Phoenyx wrote:

>On 10 Sep 2003 06:28:22 GMT
>mjmahon@aol.com (Michael J. Mahon) wrote:
>
>> Actually, shape table fonts are hard to make BIG, since they
>> cannot be scaled and remain dense.  And if they are drawn
>> big (at SCALE=1) and dense, they are sizeable and slow
>> to draw.
>
>Beagle Bros had a few large fonts with their graphics programs although I
>forget which particular disk that was.

Shape Mechanic?

>> Bit-mapped fonts are easier, smaller, and faster to draw for
>> big fonts.  Scalable fonts (a la Pointless on the IIgs) and
>> AppleWorks GS are about as simple as it could be to use,
>> but are complex in implementation, and much slower than
>> just blitting a big bit-mapped font (if size and speed are
>> issues).
>> 
>> A.P.P.L.E.'s Higher Text was a very nice hi-res "typewriter"
>> that supported single- and double-sized fonts, and color,
>> and was very easy to use from BASIC, but double-sized is
>> probably not big enough for your application.
>> 
>> You might also consider using lo-res to make really *BIG*
>> characters.  They can be drawn easily in Applesoft, but
>> if you want to scroll them, you'll need M/L.
>
>Another option would be the APEX system which could display GS fonts on both
>hires and dhires screens. It also had a scrolling program as a demo.

Appleworks with SuperFonts is also great for fixed-size GS fonts,
and there are lots of 36+ point fonts available for downloading.

-michael

Check out amazing quality sound for 8-bit Apples on my
Home page:  http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/