Informationes' de Pantose

Many years ago I had the privilege of seeing Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Ernest , at Arena Stage's, Fichandler Stage, the famous theater-in-the-round in Arlington,Virginia. The play was mesmerizing and always stayed in mind as it was a unique title for a production - comedy or no.

Mentioned in previous articles there are a number of differences between free TrueType fonts and the fonts ones you pay for. Despite the number of differences the main one come down to an important number. - It's called a Panose number. and this is no comedy.

A Panose Number is a ten digit number, with each digit containing a value between 0 and 15. - hexadecimal numbers (0-9, A-F). These hexadecimal numbers are enclosed into the operating system table as the (Rich Font Description) which is a language assigned as part of a True Type font. The main purpose of it's invention was to speed up printers - minimizing the number of fonts required to be held in memory.

Very many applications point to Panose numbers to substitute fonts needing repair or altogether missing from your documents. If a font builder does not reset the numbers when building a new font, those numbers are set to 0000000000, (Nil) - In other words - the font contains no Panose information and cannot be used in replacing missing fonts or those in need of repair. If that is the case with a particular font, the default to step in on the dance is usually Arial, Courier,Times New Roman. or one the administrator has specified.

One may shimmey their hands together creating friction while gazing at the wonderful lines of a particular font or for that matter an entire website full of wonderous offerings - all the while we envision their useage in a planned composition or project.

But I got to say the Ney/No my Brothers and Sisters!

As you know (in windows XP for example) when we click the 'AB' Icon at the top of the installed fonts management window, we can see how all fonts compare in terms of similarity.
That information is crucial in determining which font will do the trick. It's also very valuable when deciding which fonts to get rid of (spring cleaning for the fontoholics).

If you have a long list of fonts which remain stacked up at the bottom below those with their pedigree info, you will doubtlessly become less interactive with them and eventually weighted down by their lack of communication with you.

Many fonts may be gems from the past However they are mainly intrisic to your creative future in terms of their direct utility.

The Pantose information System classifies typefaces based upon their visual differentia, It was a longtime in crafting and over the years has come to serve an important role across the digital spectrum. Whether seeking out a free TrueType, font or even one you want to pay for, make sure it comes with it's nitty-gritty. Your life and creative flow will be a whole lot easier!