About Hinting and Kerning

Hinting is the process by which small variations in character shapes are encoded into a font so as to facilitate the printing of small point sizes on low resolution (300 dpi) laserprinters. Really Loud Fonts are hinted typefaces.

Kerning is the term given to specific spacing adjustments performed on individual pairs of characters within the same font, usually to enhance the readability of text faces, as when the "o" of "To" is brought closer to its "T". TempiFont and ThesisFont have been carefully kerned for another reason: to ensure the accurate presentation of multi-character expressions within a graphical and musical context. For this reason, the notes, dots, and ties of TempiFont have been carefully positioned and hinted so as to reproduce accurately on all printers, high-res and otherwise. The pedalings of ThesisFont and metric characters of MetricFont have been similarly adjusted.

These hidden adjustments are prominently mentioned at this time because of their relation to the way in which FINALE displays hinted and/or kerned character strings. In Scroll or Page View, FINALE displays unhinted and unkerned text. To view hinted and kerned text, select (in Page View) [Display in PostScript] from the view menu. This will redraw the screen using the hinting and kerning information encoded in most PostScript typefaces. Finale uses appropriate kerning values when printing all documents, regardless of View mode, so the above information gains relevance when comparing printed proofs to on-screen output. Other programs may use an approach similar to FINALE's -- when in doubt compare your PostScript output to its on-screen image, or check with your software's manufacturer. Examples reproduced for this documentation employ hinted and kerned output.