Chinese Character/Pinyin Ruby Font Display in Word 2008

[nlucchesi]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) Processor: Power PC I want to use a Chinese Character/Pinyin ruby font in Word 2008. (For information about ruby fonts, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_character).

This set of TrueType fonts includes two such ruby fonts:

http://store.penpowerchinese.com/asdytr28.html

I've emailed the vendor about using these fonts on my Mac but they replied that the font is for Windows only and there is no guarantee that they will work on my Mac running Leopard (10.5.7)

I thought that TrueType fonts are cross-platform, running on both Windows and Mac.

Can anyone give me some insight on why a TrueType font would work on Windows but not Mac? Any ideas how I could figure out if they work with Word for Mac 2008 without buying the font?

Thank you.

- nello

 

[CyberTaz]

For a *very* brief explanation have a look here:

http://www.fileinfo.com/help/fonts-mac-windows.html

In theory, a TTF designed for Windows "should" be usable on a Mac with no
problem, but it depends on the specific design of the font... How much it
relies on 'hinting' in addition to other design considerations.

The best source of information on cross-platform compatibility should be the
vendor -- especially if you are *paying* for the font The vendor (if not
the actual developer of the font) should be able to make that determination
for you before you plunk your money down. IOW, if the vendor designed the
font they should know or be able to find out. If they don't know they should
be able to contact the foundry or put you in touch with the developer.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[nlucchesi]

Bob:

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post:

In theory, a TTF designed for Windows "should" be usable on a Mac with no
> problem, but it depends on the specific design of the font... How much it
> relies on 'hinting' in addition to other design considerations.
>

Apparently, cross-platform issues regarding hinting have been resolved in recent versions of MacOS X:

http://groups.google.com/group/chinesemac/browse_frm/thread/b018450f4983efc8

Does this sound reasonable?

- nello

 

[nlucchesi]

Bob:

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post:

In theory, a TTF designed for Windows "should" be usable on a Mac with no
> problem, but it depends on the specific design of the font... How much it
> relies on 'hinting' in addition to other design considerations.
>

Apparently, cross-platform issues regarding hinting have been resolved in recent versions of MacOS X:

http://groups.google.com/group/chinesemac/browse_frm/thread/b018450f4983efc8

Does this sound reasonable?

- nello