NOTATIO

I notice that Apple's support documents now say:

Legacy suitcase TrueType fonts and PostScript Type 1 LWFN fonts might work but aren't recommended.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201749 (Updated 29 October 2018).

Apple confirmed to me only a few years ago that Type 1 fonts were still supported, when I asked, so I'm surprised there wasn't more of an announcement, given their history on the Mac platform. But certainly the writing was on the wall, given their use of the now abandoned 'Resource Fork'.

Of all the music notation software, only Finale still offers Type 1s, of course. It's well past time that MM just offered OTF format versions of all their fonts (or even as part of the move to SMuFL that was planned in 2015 and 'leaked' in 2017.)

Adobe will stop support of Type 1 fonts in 2021. Photoshop (and presumably the rest of Creative Cloud applications) won't list them in the font menu.

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/an ... fonts.html

That's pity, since there are many great fonts available only as Type 1 / TT
I guess - but not sure - that it is easy to convert a Type 1 / TT into OTF using FontForge.

Luckily, I can skip Adobe, since I don't use any of its products, but if everything works fine 10+ years in music notation, than it will be still safe to work with older fonts as it is case with suit today.

Anyway thanks for the info, just to keep that in mind.

OCTO wrote: ↑13 Oct 2020, 06:20 Type 1 / TT

TrueType and Type 1 are two different things. TrueType fonts are still supported and should work fine.

Apparently, Windows stopped supporting Type 1 in 2013. Apple may well phase them out soon. If the OS doesn't use them, then any notation apps that need them won't work either.

MM does offer TrueType versions of all their fonts: though famously the PostScript T1 and TrueType versions of the Engraver Text fonts have different names!! However, they have now released OTF versions of the Engraver Text fonts. (I can't remember if they are compatible with the old T1 names...)

I think most people will have migrated to TrueType or OTF fonts. It just marks the end of an era that started with the Mac and PostScript and the LaserWriter back in 1985.

benwiggy wrote: ↑13 Oct 2020, 12:37 TrueType and Type 1 are two different things. TrueType fonts are still supported and should work fine.

I know, I understood that both TT and Type 1 will not be supported. My goodness, I have many TT fonts - happy that I will not convert them all to OTF.

OCTO wrote: ↑13 Oct 2020, 19:08

benwiggy wrote: ↑13 Oct 2020, 12:37 TrueType and Type 1 are two different things. TrueType fonts are still supported and should work fine.

I know, I understood that both TT and Type 1 will not be supported. My goodness, I have many TT fonts - happy that I will not convert them all to OTF.

I have your OCTOwah font, which appears to be PostScript Type 1, in various existing PDFs. Do I need to do something about this? I'm completely lost with this sort of thing.

There's no problem with font characters within existing PDF documents. (There would be an almighty hoo-hah if PDF Readers stopped displaying documents with old fonts!) The PDF format is itself a 'dialect' of PostScript, and the font data from whatever source is encoded in a way that's part of the PDF specification.

It's only a question of whether the actual font files will be recognised by future OSes, and shown in applications' font menus. (And by extension, whether the font will be 'available' for use in editable documents.) There are apps (and even webpages) where you can convert fonts from one format to another.

David Ward wrote: ↑13 Oct 2020, 20:58I have your OCTOwah font, which appears to be PostScript Type 1, in various existing PDFs. Do I need to do something about this? I'm completely lost with this sort of thing.

I think it is OCTOwah.otf - so it is an OTF, not PS Type 1. If I am not mistaken. At least it is so on my computer.

Now I am confused, it is an OTF font but a "kind" of PostScript Type1:

Yes, that's what I was getting and why I assumed it was Type 1. However, my knowledge of how fonts work is non-existent, so I await enlightenment from an expert.