fontblog

VTT Version 6.30 [August, 2018 release]

Download available here The following are the changes since the 6.20 [March, 2017 release] release...

Author: fbcontrb Date: 08/02/2018

The ‘gasp’ Table

What is the ‘gasp’ table? The ‘gasp’ table (Grid-fitting and Scan-conversion Procedure Table) in a...

Author: fbcontrb Date: 05/09/2018

Some notes on the New ‘Res’ Hints, aka Smart Hinting.

The newest versions of Visual TrueType include a new set of instructions called ‘Res’ hints....

Author: fbcontrb Date: 07/08/2016

A Graphical Guide To VTT 6.10 Light Latin Autohinting

VTT 6.10 now includes an Autohinter for Latin fonts. The Autohinter uses a Lightweight hinting...

Author: fbcontrb Date: 04/08/2016

The Art and Tradition of Typography

The Art and Tradition of Typography For over 25 years Microsoft has been very focused on the...

Author: fbcontrb Date: 06/25/2010

There is more than one kind of eye fatigue

Asthenopia is the formal term for describing what is usually called eye fatigue. While eye fatigue...

Author: fbcontrb Date: 08/11/2008

ClearType improves the efficiency of typical office tasks

In two earlier posts I talked about studies that showed that word recognition is 17% more accurate...

Author: fbcontrb Date: 07/16/2008

The Technology of Text

Kevin Larson on our team recently had an article published in Spectrum IEEE. Here is a link to the...

Author: fbcontrb Date: 06/11/2007

The ClearType Font Collection

Now that Vista and Office 2007 have shipped, we would like to send out a pointer to some online...

Author: fbcontrb Date: 05/22/2007

More on Linespacing

Typography Tip #3 recommends setting linespacing in Word to a multiple of 1.2. This has the effect...

Author: fbcontrb Date: 05/17/2006

Word jumble hoax debunked

I’ve previously talked about the Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde uinervtisy hoax. The study...

Author: fbcontrb Date: 05/09/2006

Typography Tip #3.

Changing the line spacing in your document can have a dramatic effect on the how your page will...

Author: fbcontrb Date: 05/03/2006

Introducing Ambiguity

Here is another idea for a sentence end punctuation. I call it the ambiguity mark. It is perhaps not...

Author: fbcontrb Date: 04/05/2006

Another must have!

and of course another favorite for all things typographic is The Elements of Typographic Style by...

Author: fbcontrb Date: 03/22/2006

There are several books that we’ve found extremely valuable in this group that deal with...

Author: fbcontrb Date: 03/20/2006

Introducing the Irony Mark

Despite the less than positive comments for the Interrobang, I would like to advocate for more...

Author: fbcontrb Date: 01/04/2006

Interrobang?! — Interrobang!?

One of the least heralded, but arguably most important new features of the new ClearType font...

Author: fbcontrb Date: 12/22/2005

ClearType = Clear Mind

In a previous post I talked about the ClearType improvement in word recognition. Lee Gugerty and...

Author: fbcontrb Date: 12/13/2005

Typography Tip #2.

Typography Tip #2. When justifying text in Microsoft Word use the hyphenation feature to improve the...

Author: fbcontrb Date: 11/29/2005

Rscheearch Shmecsearch

In September 2003, the following paragraph thundered its way around the internet, and has been an...

Author: fbcontrb Date: 11/16/2005

Why is Courier New so Thin?

The Courier typeface, designed by Howard “Bud” Kettler, has an interesting history which has been...

Author: fbcontrb Date: 11/11/2005

Where does 96 DPI come from in Windows?

Most Windows systems are shipped with the display DPI set to 96 PPI. (I’ll use the term PPI in...

Author: fbcontrb Date: 11/08/2005

Fontblog Typography Tips

Typography Tip #1. When writing your email, or documents, only use one space after a period....

Author: fbcontrb Date: 11/03/2005

ClearType improves our accuracy at recognizing words

Most people agree that ClearType makes text look nicer, especially when tuned. But does it help us...

Author: fbcontrb Date: 10/28/2005

The burden of locked grids & blooming dots

Stuck in a rut, boxed in by restraints, griddled by grids? You know what I love? Beautiful type....

Author: fbcontrb Date: 10/26/2005

You can tune a font but you can’t tuna fish...

My name is Greg Hitchcock, and I’m a software architect in the Advanced Reading Technologies team....

Author: fbcontrb Date: 10/20/2005

Colophon

One often finds the colophon at the end of a book, but in the case of this blog it is only right to...

Author: fbcontrb Date: 10/20/2005

The Liquid Crystal Goblet

A lot of people take reading on a computer screen for granted. Most don’t even notice the...

Author: fbcontrb Date: 10/18/2005

Welcome to our font blog.

Welcome to our new blog. I’ll start my first posting with an old but relevant joke. Question: What...

Author: fbcontrb Date: 10/07/2005