What does "Windows postscript font" mean, in this context? Are you limited to one particular codepage for Windows? (For example, ISO 8859-1.)

If you need to create a Windows PostScript font, you can just use a different codepage for the font. This will give you the slots that you need for Polish (and a number of other Eastern European languages). You can switch between different codepages or different encoding files in FontLab.

What is the typeface that your newspaper uses? You might be able to license a Central European version of the font in Windows PostScript. (At Linotype, for instance, we still have thousands of fonts in this format, but only for fonts made before about 2004).

Chris, I see that the Irish Times uses the Flama and Expresso typefaces. These are both from Mário Feliciano in Portugal (http://www.felicianotypefoundry.com). It would be best just to contact him directly. He probably has versions of the fonts that meet your language and software requirements that you can use, saving you the trouble of having to create them yourself. Or, he could whip them up in a jiffy.

dan_reynolds, Thanks for that. Good guess! We want to try and keep this an in-house project at the moment. Your first comment has helped me though, will test later on. I also have to do Czech as well and I have to this for both families! Thanks for your help! Just curious, how did you 'see' the Irish Times uses Expresso and Flama?

Fortunately, the CE codepages and encoding files in FontLab should contain all the Polish and Czech diacritics, so you won't have to make separate font files for each of those two languages.

As for the font identification, I wish I could say that I had been sitting in a pub in Dublin, and that I reached over and glanced at the newspaper, recognizing the fonts instantly! Instead, I got a PDF and looked at that.

At newseum.com, there is a daily collection of PDFs of front pages of newspapers from around the world. I looked at today's European papers, and was glad to see the Irish Times there. I downloaded the PDF, opened it up in Acrobat, and looked at the embedded fonts in the document's preferences. Then I went over to Mário's website to find the fonts, and make sure that nothing had gone wrong with the PDF.

http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/

Figures as much! I prefer the first possibility, ahh there's nothing finer than a pint of Guinness and the newspaper.

Our publishing system almost makes Gutenbergs moveable type archaic! I'm pretty new to FontLab so I'm still learning, the 900+ page PDF manual is not the easiest read!

There is an easier to digest book available… Learn FontLab Fast

http://www.lesliecabarga.com/collections/books/products/learn-fontlab-fast

Chris be aware that you are not allowed to modify the design's of Mário Feliciano unless he expressly permits it. It's called 'droit morale' or moral rights, and they protect all creative expressions from misrepresentation (the author's right to integrity). Droit morale covers the EU of which both Ireland and Portugal are members. Further I can see that Mario has already designed the relevant glyphs for Polish.

That is a good point, of course. On Mário's website, Expresso isn't available for general licensing. So I assume that the Irish Times must have some special license from him. I'm sure that this license carefully delineates whether or not the Times can make modifications themselves, and what sort of modifications are allowed (if any are allowed).

*windy sounds, tumbleweed crossing*

Chris,

1. In FontLab Studio's Font Window, switch to Names mode, and from the encoding dropdown list, choose "Type 1 World Microsoft" / "MS Windows 1250 Central European".
2. In Font Info / Encoding and Unicode / Microsoft Character Set, you may need to choose "Central (Eastern) European". Generate the font as Type 1 -- that would be the standards-compliant way (the font will have a custom encoding, marked as "CE).
3. If your system does not recognize non-Western Type 1 fonts (which is possible), choose "Bitstream font set" in Font Info / Encoding and Unicode / Microsoft Character Set instead (this way, the font will have a custom encoding but marked as "Western").

(Damn, I already started thinking about removing the non-Unicode font generation options, but it seems they're still being used by some folks. :) ).

:) )

???

Smiling even when you have a double chin?

No, just closing the parenthesis after I've smiled. I don't like to keep loose ends ;) .