Oki PAGE 8w User Manual

Also see for OKIPAGE 8w Lite: Installation and setup Setup guide Setup guide Manual Service handbook

12 OKIPAGE 8w LiteFontsWhat is a font?A font refers to a set of printable characters in a partic-ular typeface of a specific size (e.g. 12 point) and style(e.g. roman, bold or bold-italic). In computer printing,however, this term has been used in a wider context torefer to all sizes and styles of a particular typeface. Inprinters, fonts may be divided into two basic types: bit-map fonts and scalable (or outline) fonts.Bitmap fonts are made up of a pattern of dots (at theprinter resolution) to form the image of each printablecharacter. These are of a fixed size and scaling makesthem look ragged.Scalable fonts are stored as a set of mathematicalcurves. At print time, the printer uses the stored curvesto make up a bitmap of each character required, at therequired size in the required style, at the full printer res-olution. Such fonts are therefore said to be scalable anddo not appear ragged at enlarged sizes.Using fontsThe easiest way to select fonts is through the softwareprogram being used. Software programs send printercommands that consist of a set of codes, one for each ofthe font characteristics. If the software program has theappropriate driver, fonts can be specified and the neces-sary commands will be sent to the printer. For more de-tailed information on how to select fonts in a softwareprogram, refer to the documentation for that softwareprogram.