Hi Valerie,
Yup, you should be able to use either Comic Sans MS or Georgia. However,
to be absolutely completely sure I would test it first. If the file at
any point encounters someone at Bookshare or who is a volunteer who uses
Kurzweil, there is a remote possibility that those fonts could do
something weird because Kurzweil is not 100% compliant in its
implementation of the rtf file format. The fonts should be completely
compliant, but "should" isn't the same as "definitely are." That's not
Kurzweil's fault, as an aside--blame Microsoft for that, as some parts
of the rtf implementation remain proprietary to Microsoft even now.
To test the font: Create a rtf document that has a bunch of characters
with diacritical marks in it using Comic Sans MS, and then ask someone
who uses Kurzweil instead of Word to proofread (or scan) to open the
file, save it again from Kurzweil as an rtf after making some minor
modification like adding a word or two, and send it back to you. Then
double-check that all of those characters with diacritical marks are
fine. Do the same thing with a document using the Georgia font. Make
sure when you do this, btw, that you use an rtf document at every step.
Don't use a .doc or a .docx as it can give you different results because
the character encoding underlying those are different than the encoding
for a rtf file.
If Kurzweil is going to do something wrong with either font it will do
it on those diacritical characters. Kurzweil does fine with Times New
Roman, Arial and Tahoma, and it should be fine with Comic Sans MS and
Georgia, but don't bet your book on it until you check that out. smile.
Judy s.
Follow me on Twitter at QuackersNCheese
<https://twitter.com/QuackersNCheese>
On 9/29/2017 7:29 PM, Valerie Maples wrote:
Judy;
Well, the last three may technically be fonts, but I dare anyone to use them in a document. Wink.
So, am I correct in understanding I can submit with Comic Sans or Georgia? These accomplish the same task with Georgia being a nicely weighted font, easier for many people with dyslexia. Both of those are easier on my eyes and easily show the differences OCR often gets wrong. Showing the three worst characters in their font if the list serve does not standardize the print.
Comic Sans MS I 1 l
Georgia I 1 l
Valerie
On Sep 29, 2017, at 3:47 PM, Judy s. <cherryjam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:cherryjam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Hi Valerie,
I just re-read the section on fonts in the new proofreading manual after your email. It recommends (but does not require) certain fonts, but it goes on to say: "Do not use custom or obscure fonts, as these don't exist on some computers."
Uh oh. I don't think you'll get any traction on recommending or using Century Schoolbook as a font for books submitted to Bookshare. Unfortunately, Century Schoolbook isn't universally available across versions of Microsoft Word as an installed font, and doesn't have a one-for-one equivalent across operating systems, so it's going to be a custom/obscure font.
The problem with which font to use isn't just a readability issue, of course. There's the bigger issue of how the underlying bits and bytes are handled by a computer's software when it interprets a font. If I don't have Century Schoolbook installed in my version of Microsoft Word (I checked just now, and to my surprise on Word 2010 I don't), it can and will give me wacky results for characters other than the basic alphabet, and basic punctuation if I try to use a file with that font. Diacritical marks in particular will get hosed and other things, like certain symbols, also won't translate from one font to another. The file ends up with garbage characters substituted for all of those, turning a great scan into a mess.
I wish I had better news. It makes it so much easier to proofread when the font has a clear difference between those I, 1,& l characters!
The list of "universal" fonts (also called "web-safe fonts") that are on every version of Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X is horribly limited. Here they are:
Arial
Arial Black
Comic Sans MS
Courier New
Georgia
Impact
Lucida Console (Mac calls it Monaco)
Lucida Sans Unicode (Mac calls it Lucida Grande)
Palatino Linotype (Mac calls it Palatino)
Tahoma (Mac calls it Geneva)
Times New Roman
Trebuchet MS
Verdana
Symbol
Webdings
Wingdings
That's it. Just those. It stinks.
Judy s.
Follow me on Twitter at QuackersNCheese <https://twitter.com/QuackersNCheese>
On 9/29/2017 5:14 AM, Valerie Maples wrote:
Doug and I are reviewing the updated proofreading manual and we we're wondering if there could be any consideration given to being able to submit a book in a font that helps better differentiate between often mistaken letters in OCR. He is starting to write a book, and we have found that the font Century Schoolbook does a much better job of differentiating between I, 1,& l.
Just hoping for another tool in our arsenal for all of us who are deranged perfectionists. Wink.
Valerie
