Difference between Nimbus Sans D, L, P, T, No 4, No 5

[Judith Baltsar]

Hello everybody,
on a font collection CD I found several dozen fonts of the Nimbus Sans
family. I know that Nimbus Sans is a clone of Helvetica, but what is
the difference between D, L, P, T and so on?
I am looking for a slightly condensed font for tables that works
together with Palatino as the main font for the text.

Thanks a lot

Judith

[nos...@comcast.com]

This should give you a start on the answer to your question

http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/urw/nimbus-sans/

[Judith Baltsar]

On Fri, 26 Nov 2004 09:23:21 -0500, "nos...@comcast.com"
<nos...@comcast.com> wrote:

>This should give you a start on the answer to your question
>
>http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/urw/nimbus-sans/

In fact I found this already by googling - but it doesn't really
explain anything. What are these different versions meant for, and
what is the equivalent of the "standard" Arial or Helvetica?

Judith

[RSD99]

That question should possibly be part of the FAQ ... Apostrophe posted the
following list on Saturday, April 14, 2001 at 2:28 PM

Basically, the prefixes and suffixes you have noted are used by the URW and
URW++ foundry to indicate the recommended usage of the font. It is somewhat
similar to the scheme used by Adobe in their recent releases of Pro OTF
sets. The following is according to Apostrophe:

The URW prefixes as I know them are as follows:

D = Display (18 - 72 points)
E = Extreme (8 points and under)
L = Laser (standard laser printer fonts -- Bookman, Times, etc.)
M = Monospaced
P = Poster (72+ points)
T = Text (9-16 points)

"Judith Baltsar" <judith....@gmx.de> wrote in message
news:l4mdq0h7136l16hah...@4ax.com...

[RSD99]

"Judith Baltsar" asked:
"...

and what is the equivalent of the "standard" Arial or Helvetica?

..."

The equivalent of the "standard" Arial is **NOT** included in the Nimbus
Sans family. Arial is a sub-standard typeface ... please see

"The Scourge of Arial"
http://www.ms-studio.com/articles.html

The "standard" version of Helvetica would be included in the Nimbus Sans
family ... and would probably be the "T" version ...

"Judith Baltsar" <judith....@gmx.de> wrote in message

news:4rveq0dcvnu2n9uml...@4ax.com...

[Judith Baltsar]

On Fri, 26 Nov 2004 19:36:56 GMT, "RSD99" <rsdwla...@gte.net>
wrote:

>That question should possibly be part of the FAQ ... Apostrophe posted the
>following list on Saturday, April 14, 2001 at 2:28 PM
>
>Basically, the prefixes and suffixes you have noted are used by the URW and
>URW++ foundry to indicate the recommended usage of the font. It is somewhat
>similar to the scheme used by Adobe in their recent releases of Pro OTF
>sets. The following is according to Apostrophe:
>
>The URW prefixes as I know them are as follows:
>
>D = Display (18 - 72 points)
>E = Extreme (8 points and under)
>L = Laser (standard laser printer fonts -- Bookman, Times, etc.)
>M = Monospaced
>P = Poster (72+ points)
>T = Text (9-16 points)
>

Thanks a lot - that helped

Judith

[Ron Bean]

"RSD99" <rsdwla...@gte.net> writes:

>That question should possibly be part of the FAQ ...

Yes...

>The URW prefixes as I know them are as follows:
>
>D = Display (18 - 72 points)
>E = Extreme (8 points and under)
>L = Laser (standard laser printer fonts -- Bookman, Times, etc.)
>M = Monospaced
>P = Poster (72+ points)
>T = Text (9-16 points)

That explains a few things.

I've also seen font names with EF, CE, FB, LT, and H in them
(These are from Agfa-Monotype's website, which seems to list
fonts from a number of foundries).

Just making some guesses, EF is probably "Elsner & Flake"
(another foundry), and CE might mean "Central European" (for
languages that require extra characters). LT might be "light" and
H might be "heavy", although some foundries spell those out so
it would be nice to hear from someone who knows for sure.
I'm stumped on FB.

Can anyone else add to the list?

[Character]

Ron Bean wrote:

There are no standards, and companies aren't consistent within themselves.

FB is Font Bureau
LT is sometimes Linotype
ITC as a prefix often means the ITC foundry
ITC as a suffix often means an ITC design licensed to another co. for
distribution

This extensive list has quite a few ... regardless of the author's
comments, there are still lots missing, and multiple uses aren't well
indicated

http://www.fontinfo.net/Font_Initials.html
CG is originally Compugraphics
AG is more commonly Agfa/Compugraphic (that page says Andrejs Grinbergs)
etc.

That list seems to exclude the whole categories like clone makers and
"scrapbook" fonts - themed fonts by organizations like:

AEZ - Freeware from Anastacia E. ZIttel
BD - Streetwise Software
BJF - Blue Jay Font studio
CAC - American Greetings
CB - Chatterbox
CK - Creating Keepsakes (Copyrights vary by licensee)
DJ - Diane J. Hook
JI - Jeri Ingalls
JLR - Dingbrats "Jenna"
JNK - JNK Originals
KF - Karen Foster
KG - Katz Graphics
KR - Kats Fun Fonts
LCR - Le Chef René (René Miller)
LD - Inspire Graphics (Lettering Delights)
LDJ - Inspire Graphics (Lettering Delights)
LDO - Luke Owens
LMS - London Stokes
LOT - Karen Culotta Kindrick
LS - Lady Sara
PC - ProvoCraft
PF - Planck Foam

And another site for font descriptors (not foundries)
http://www.eyewire.com/images/tips/fontacronyms.gif

- Character