Unbound Scalable Fonts

Prior to introduction of the HP LaserJet IIIP printer, a downloaded scalable font was restricted to a single symbol set. Now scalable fonts with no symbol set affiliation can be downloaded. These new fonts are called unbound fonts.

To download unbound fonts, the “PCL Font Header for Intellifont Unbound Scalable Fonts” or the “Format 15 Font Header for Scalable Fonts” (TrueType) must be used (see Chapter 11).

Bound and Unbound Fonts

The terms “bound” and “unbound” refer to the symbol set capacity of a font. A bound font identifies a font which is restricted (bound) to a single symbol set. An unbound font (or unbound typeface) indicates the capacity to be bound to a set of symbols selected from a complementary symbol index (such as the Master Symbol List (MSL), or the Unicode symbol index).

Font Selection and Unbound Fonts

When a font is requested for printing, the printer selects a font which most closely matches the current font selection characteristics (symbol set, spacing, pitch, height, style, stroke weight, and typeface). Refer to “Summary of Font Selection by Characteristics” in Chapter 8 for detailed font characteristic selection information.

Since symbol set is the highest font selection priority and typeface is the lowest, the printer searches for the symbol set first. A list of all fonts that match the requested symbol set is made. This includes bitmap, bound, and unbound fonts. Since bitmap and bound scalable fonts contain only one symbol set, they can be easily identified. However, determining which unbound fonts match a symbol set is more complex. Symbol set compatibility for unbound fonts is determined by identification of groups of symbols referred to as symbol collections.

9-8Font Management

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HP 5961-0509 manual Unbound Scalable Fonts, Bound and Unbound Fonts, Font Selection and Unbound Fonts, 8Font Management