Recently I received the following question from a reader: "I have tons of TrueType fonts on my computer. What does "O" mean when it’s in front of a font name?"
Although they may seem like TrueType fonts, this icon actually stands for OpenType fonts, which are slightly different. When you double-click one of the fonts in your font list, you’ll see in the font viewer that it says "Open Type font" next to the font name.
OpenType fonts are actually an extension of TrueType technology and were developed jointly by Adobe and Microsoft. Like TrueType fonts and PostScript fonts, OpenType fonts are outline fonts, which means they are made of line and curve commands as opposed to pixels. Because they are outline fonts, they can be scaled and rotated without looking jagged.
If you’ve ever had to share files with a Mac user, you’ll appreciate one of the main benefits of Open Type fonts: cross-platform compatibility. In other words, the same font file works on Macintosh and Windows computers. You can move the font file back and forth between the computers and it will work on either system. Open Type fonts also support larger character sets, which makes laying out multilingual documents much easier because you can include characters from multiple-languages in one font.
ClearType is another new development in the world of fonts for Windows XP users. ClearType was developed by Microsoft to improve the readability of text on liquid crystal displays (LCDs). If you use a laptop, ClearType may make your computing life better. Microsoft claims that using ClearType technology, the words on the screen are almost as sharp and clear as those printed on paper.
You can try out this new font technology by changing your display settings. Right-click on your desktop and choose Properties. In the Appearance tab, click the Effects button. Add a check mark next to Use the following method to smooth fonts. Then change the drop down to ClearType.
I’m not using a laptop, so I’m not sure how much value ClearType has in my case. I have an older (non-LCD) monitor and the setting just made the text darker. So as with so many things, if you don’t like it, just change the setting back to turn it off.