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How
to Fix Jagged Fonts
by
Tim Donnelly, guest writer
S
ay
you're working with a friend on their computer system and you realize
that their fonts look different than yours. They're the same typefaces
but theirs have nice even edges while yours seem to be straight from the
pyramids in Egypt; built with little steps of stone. What's the deal?
If you're using PostScript
fonts, there are some possibilities that come to mind.
1. Missing screen
fonts
You may not have your screen fonts installed properly. PostScript
fonts come in pairs; each member of a font family has a screen
font and a printer font. If you only have the printer font installed
then the computer system will draw upon the printer font for information
on how to display a font on-screen. Your fonts will look very jagged,
much like a vector
graphic. TrueType fonts, though generally not as high quality as PostScript
fonts, won't give you this problem because there's only one file for each
font.
2.
Adobe® Type Manager®
The second possibility is that you're not using the Adobe
Type Manager (ATM) software. Because screen fonts contain bitmapped information
and come in a few representative sizes (most screen fonts come with a
few font sizes like 10, 12, and 14 point), they
don't look very smooth when you use sizes larger than the representative
sizes. ATM is a piece of software that can be set to smooth the jagged
edges of your fonts.
Where can I get
it?
A free, "light" version of Adobe Type Manager (Macintosh
or Windows) often comes packaged with Adobe software like Illustrator
or Photoshop
and can be downloaded here.
Adobe Type Manager Deluxe, which can also help you organize and manage
your fonts, is available for Macintosh
or Windows from
Amazon.com. 
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