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Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Hawkmoon on April 21, 2021, 01:07:11 AM

Title: Who here uses a Mac or an iPad?
Post by: Hawkmoon on April 21, 2021, 01:07:11 AM
Either way, I have the same question for you. Here's the deal:

I'm nearing completion of a book. Me being me, I can't just sit down and write. To me, a book is no different than a building -- it's more than just words, it's a creation. So as I write, I get off on tangents, investigating how to improve the page layout, the formatting, the font selection . . . all that stuff. And the more I investigate those aspects, the more I realize that there isn't any good, single source for guiding people who are literally just starting out (as I was with the book I self-published in January) and trying to get their first book published.

A good example is font selection. Most people writing in Microsoft Word on a Windows machine have Times New Roman set as the default, and they probably just go with that. But the pros tell us that Times New Roman is a poor choice for books, because it's too compact -- it was designed and optimized for use in small type sizes and the narrow column widths of newspapers. Yet the experts generally agree that the body font for a book should be a serif typeface, and they usually then go on to list five or ten of their favorites.

The problem is that many of those are "professional" fonts. They don't come with Windows, and I don't think they come standard with iOS or whatever the operating system is for Macs. Some may come with Adobe InDesign ($$$$$), or you can buy them from type vendors like Adobe.

As usual, I'm interested in helping people get started without a big dollar investment, so a suggestion to use Sabon typeface is useless, because you have to buy it. There are suitable fonts included standard with Windows -- perhaps not THE best, but much better than Times New Roman, and that's good enough.

What I'm wondering, and that I hope you can help with, is (1) what fonts or typefaces come standard on iPads and Macs; and (2) how does an owner of an Apple device check to see what fonts he or she has installed? Where on the computer are fonts stored?

Where I'm going with this is that I'm thinking of writing a book to guide people through the process -- as inexpensively as possible, which means using what they have on their computers rather than buying fonts or new software.

Any help you can provide will be appreciated.
Title: Re: Who here uses a Mac or an iPad?
Post by: Fly320s on April 21, 2021, 06:43:59 AM
I'm using an ipad to reply.  As far as I can tell, there isn't a word processor type app installed by default on ipads.   No MS Word or the Apple equivalent on my ipad.

"There's an app for that."  In the App Store there are a bunch of writing apps including MS Word for ipad, which is free.  It looks like Word has all of the usual features, so I bet it has all of the proper fonts.

Title: Re: Who here uses a Mac or an iPad?
Post by: Hawkmoon on April 21, 2021, 02:00:28 PM
Pages isn't available under iOS?
Title: Re: Who here uses a Mac or an iPad?
Post by: cordex on April 21, 2021, 02:10:17 PM
https://developer.apple.com/fonts/system-fonts/#preinstalled
Title: Re: Who here uses a Mac or an iPad?
Post by: zxcvbob on April 21, 2021, 02:15:54 PM
I'm looking at the fonts on my PC.  (always answer the question that wasn't asked ;))  I think Bookman Old Style, Georgia, Cambria, or Palatino would work.  Verdana is a nice san-serif font.
Title: Re: Who here uses a Mac or an iPad?
Post by: Hawkmoon on April 21, 2021, 09:48:01 PM
https://developer.apple.com/fonts/system-fonts/#preinstalled

Good find. Thank you.
Title: Re: Who here uses a Mac or an iPad?
Post by: Hawkmoon on April 21, 2021, 09:49:01 PM
I'm looking at the fonts on my PC.  (always answer the question that wasn't asked ;))  I think Bookman Old Style, Georgia, Cambria, or Palatino would work.  Verdana is a nice san-serif font.

Agreed on all counts. But I don't think Bookman Old Style is native to Windows -- I think that's brought in by MS Office.
Title: Re: Who here uses a Mac or an iPad?
Post by: Fly320s on May 04, 2021, 08:02:50 AM
Good news!  You get a new font.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/05/03/microsoft-calibri-font-designer-luc-de-groot-on-its-replacement.html
Title: Re: Who here uses a Mac or an iPad?
Post by: Hawkmoon on May 04, 2021, 10:02:28 AM
Good news!  You get a new font.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/05/03/microsoft-calibri-font-designer-luc-de-groot-on-its-replacement.html

Sic transit gloria mundi.