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Bucaro TecHelp Newsletter
Maintain Your Computer and Use it More Effectively
to Design a Web Site and Make Money on the Web.
~ ~ ~ November 24, 2004 Volume 4 Number 42 ~ ~ ~
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Font Basics
By Stephen Bucaro
A font is actually a graphic shape, for example a triangle, which can be used
to create a typographic character. A group of fonts of similar design can be used
to create a typeface. A set of typefaces in different sizes and weights, created
from the same group of fonts, is a type family. These terms are often misused,
the term "font" being used to mean a typeface.
There are two basic kinds of fonts, "bitmapped" fonts and "scalable"
fonts. Bitmapped fonts are constructed as a pattern of dots. Bitmapped fonts can
be enlarged, but this produces jagged looking type.
Scalable fonts are stored as outlines of the characters along with rules (know
as "hints") used when displaying the font. This allows the fonts to be displayed
over a wider range of sizes and still look good. Scalable fonts can be used for
both the computer screen and the printer, making it more likely that the print
will closely match what's seen on the computer screen.
continued...
Disable Long Filenames to Improve Window's Performance
Starting with Windows 95, Microsoft introduced the Virtual File Allocation Table
(VFAT). VFAT provided 32-bit disk access and long filenames (up to 255 characters).
A long filename can include characters that are illegal in an MS-DOS compatible 8.3
file name, like spaces and dots.
To be backword compatible with 16-bit FAT partitions, both the VFAT and the NTFS
file systems create two names for each file, the long filename and a short filename
compatible with the FAT file system.
Note: The MS-DOS compatible 8.3 file name is created by taking the first six
characters of the long filename (ignoring spaces), add "~1 (or higher number)
and then using the first three letters after the last period as the file extension.
If you have no legacy 16-bit programs or hardware devices installed on your
computer, the 8.3 file names are not neccessary. Disabling 8.3 file name
creation can increase the performance of NTFS partitions. Below is a simple
script you can use to check and configure the registry key NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation.
continued...
Color Harmony in Web Design : Part 4 The Additive Color System
By Stephen Bucaro
When designing a website, one of the first questions that comes to mind is "What color
scheme will I use?". The choice of colors for your website is very important because the
first message a visitor to your website receives is the psychological message that color
communicates. To choose an effective color scheme for your website requires a basic
understanding of color theory.
In the last article, you learned that paper is white because it reflects all the colors
of the spectrum. When a printer deposits colored pigment on paper, it subtracts some color.
For this reason, printers are said to use a "subtractive" color system.
The color system used for the computer display is based on the the cathode ray tube (CRT).
A CRT starts out black and builds up colors by turning on red, green, and blue (RGB) fluorescent
dots to various intensities. The colors of the three dots blend together to form a colored
pixel on the screen. This is an "additive" color system.
A computer display uses red, green, and blue as primary colors. When these three primary
colors are combined, the result is white. Many Web designers trained in the art world
will convert from the RGB color system to Newton's red, yellow, and blue (RYB) system.
But that's not neccessary because color harmony can be created using any color system.
In the next article, I'll introduce the color wheel, not Newton's color wheel which uses
red, yellow, and blue as primary colors, but the RGB color wheel. This means we don't have
to keep converting from the RYB system to the RGB system in our design work.
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