Lowest common denominator fonts for Word?

[ffutures]

One of the things I want to provide with Forgotten Futures X is dragon character record sheets as editable Word etc. .DOC files. I've already done this, but it occurs to me that they'll be a mess if anyone else loads them.

The trouble is that the font I've used for the book is Albertus, and I can't give it away with the game because as far as I know it's a commercial font (numerous sites seem to be giving it away, but I suspect that they are not doing so legally). My best move is probably to find a font that is common to Windows, Macs, and if possible Linux distros, use that, and suggest that users pick a font they prefer.

Any suggestions for a font that'll do the trick?


In other news my local computer market has a guy selling 100-page packs of QMS glossy 135g A4 colour laser printer paper. Got one today and gave it a try, the result is VERY impressive, really makes the text stand out - I think it'll be very good for flyers etc. Works out at a fiver a ream, which seems pretty reasonable... unless anyone knows of a cheaper alternative I'll pop back tomorrow and get a few more packs.

Comments

[ggreig]

You might be able to embed the font in the document, meaning that the document will contain a copy of the font information required for the characters that you use. If you're working on Windows, you can use the Font Properties Extension to check the font's licensing to see if it permits this.

The embedding options in Word or other programs can sometimes be a bit difficult to locate, but it could be worth checking out.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Trouble with that is that I want to make an editable document, which means it has to contain the whole font. I'd prefer to use something that's free or already part of the O/S

[ggreig]

Coincidentally Ascender Corporation have just put up a site specifically about Font Embedding, and it looks like a good resource if anyone does want to pursue embedding fonts. I note that I only told part of the story when I commented originally, and that it may be possible to embed an entire font, subject to its licensing.

For interest only at this stage, Bill Hill (font guru at Microsoft) has just posted about font embedding on the web, as he's trying to get an old Microsoft proprietary standard for doing this converted into an open standard.

[lillian13.livejournal.com]

Times, Times New Roman, and Arial are resident on just about every system I've ever heard of, both Mac and PC.

Instead of editable .DOC files, why not editable pdfs? If you have the full version of Acrobat, you can save documents so that they can be filled in (using Typewriter) or commented on using Reader.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I don't have Acrobat Pro (which has all of the form stuff), I didn't think I could make an editable document with Acrobat Standard.

In any case more people can edit word than anything else I can easily think of.

[dsample.livejournal.com]

As long as you stick to the "web safe fonts" you should be okay. Most people will have them installed on their computers.

I'd stay away from Times, but that's just me. I think it's ugly. I like Georgia.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Sounds like it's going to be Arial then - or I might find a free one that I like and use that and include instructions on how to download it.

[elfbiter.livejournal.com]

Could you consider .RTF instead of .DOC? .DOC is a Word format when most programs understand .RTF.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Good point, I'll use both.