Re: [NTLK] Newton Keyboard

From: Grant Hutchinson (grant_at_splorp.com)
Date: Sun Apr 20 2003 - 13:27:41 PDT


In a previous message, Jon Glass typed vigorously:

>> The Newton keyboard uses Gill Sans, whereas the newer Mac keyboards
>> use a similar, but not identical sans serif face - it looks like a
>> cross between Lucida Grande and DIN Schriften. I can't find a reference
>> to what it is exactly. It could be a custom face.
>
>It probably is Lucida Grande, as that seems to be Apple's new favorite.

Yeah, it's close but no cigar. If you compare Lucida Grande with the
characters on the new keyboard, you'll find that elements such as the
tail of the capital 'Q' are different. In Lucida the tail drops out from
the right bottom curve without crossing the counter, and on the keyboard
the tail is a straight line the crosses the counter. Likewise, the
upstroke of the capital 'G' has a horizontal ear on the keyboard, Lucida
Grande doesn't. The Lucida Grande 'J' drops below the baseline, but the
keyboard 'J' doesn't. The capital 'M' on the keyboard has inclined sides,
whereas Lucida Grande's are vertical. And so on...

>Although it probably is customized in some way, like the Apple Garamond
>is an 80% compressed Garamond font (don't recall which, however.)

In fact, the version of Garamond that Apple used was not a compressed
version of some regular weight, but in fact a slightly condensed and
custom redrawn version of ITC Garamond created specifically for Apple by
Bitstream Inc. By the way, the condensed and italicized face used on
previous Apple keyboards is Univers Condensed Light Oblique.

http://www.typophile.com/forums/messages/83/1838.html
http://www.veer.com/results.asp?Image=ADT0003204

Yes, I am a type geek too.

g.

......................................................................

Grant Hutchinson
Interface Considerations & Toys

Weblog > http://www.splorp.com/
Newton > http://www.newted.org/
Design > http://www.veer.com/

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