Symbols and Dingbats Template

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J-Mac
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Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:35 am

Symbols and Dingbats Template

Post by J-Mac »

I purchased Scanahand Premium a few days ago and noticed that besides the Basic Template there is another called Symbol or Dingbat. The Symbol or Dingbat template has four pages to it, though it only has one and a half pages of characters that I can write in. The rest are all shown as asterisks; two and a half pages of asterisks!

I am guessing (and hoping maybe?) that the asterisks are actually attributes of the other characters, such as Bold and Italic. Is that correct?

And while I'm on the topic of bold and italic, if the Symbols or Dingbat template does not cover those, how do I create bold and italic versions of my own font that I create in Scanahand? I searched the Help file and PDF User Manual and the words "bold" and "italic" do not appear in them at all! I find that very surprising.

Any help? I appreciate any advice.

Thanks!

Jim
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Re: Symbols and Dingbats Template

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

J-Mac wrote:The Symbol or Dingbat template has four pages to it, though it only has one and a half pages of characters that I can write in. The rest are all shown as asterisks; two and a half pages of asterisks!
You can create symbols in all of the grid squares, but like with WingDings, the characters are usually inserted from a character map. They are shown as asterisks because you can draw any symbols you want (as you can on the first page too). People don't usually type with WingDings, but you can type them with A-z if you wish. Beyond Ascii tilde (126) it gets difficult to type Wingdings (you have to hold down the Alt key and type a code number).

With the Premium Edition, you can create custom Unicode templates (not Symbol fonts) for things like Maths Symbols, Geometric Symbols, Runes, etc., which are assigned to fixed codepoints in the Unicode system. Typing them in applications is still difficult — you usually have to use a character map to insert them.
How do I create bold and italic versions of my own font that I create in Scanahand?
Handwriting fonts and dingbats don't need bold or italic versions. There is no option to create font families with Scanahand. For that you need FontCreator.
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J-Mac
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Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:35 am

Re: Symbols and Dingbats Template

Post by J-Mac »

Thanks Bhikkhu. Sorry to reply to you late but I guess this forum doesn’t send out notifications.
Bhikkhu Pesala wrote:
J-Mac wrote:The Symbol or Dingbat template has four pages to it, though it only has one and a half pages of characters that I can write in. The rest are all shown as asterisks; two and a half pages of asterisks!
You can create symbols in all of the grid squares, but like with WingDings, the characters are usually inserted from a character map. They are shown as asterisks because you can draw any symbols you want (as you can on the first page too). People don't usually type with WingDings, but you can type them with A-z if you wish. Beyond Ascii tilde (126) it gets difficult to type Wingdings (you have to hold down the Alt key and type a code number).

With the Premium Edition, you can create custom Unicode templates (not Symbol fonts) for things like Maths Symbols, Geometric Symbols, Runes, etc., which are assigned to fixed codepoints in the Unicode system. Typing them in applications is still difficult — you usually have to use a character map to insert them.
OK, so I guess that I don’t really have any use for that template unless I decide to create a WingDings/Symbols font.
Bhikkhu Pesala wrote:
How do I create bold and italic versions of my own font that I create in Scanahand?
Handwriting fonts and dingbats don't need bold or italic versions. There is no option to create font families with Scanahand. For that you need FontCreator.
Hmm.. I didn't really consider my font to be handwriting exactly. I mean, yes - it is written with my hand, of course! But I guess that since it is not possible to create true cursive - meaning connected cursive characters - then I see mine as more of a "hand-printed" font, and I can certainly see instances where I may want to use a bolded phrase. A reason I didn't think that bold and italic is at all unusual for this type of font is that I have a few others on my computer that I created via a free online font creator and I can use bold and italic attributes with them in MS Word and in other applications that use rich text editors. Of course I can't use any symbols with those though.

Font Creator is a definite plan for me, but it will be a while before I can get it.

Thank you.

Jim
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Re: Symbols and Dingbats Template

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

J-Mac wrote:Thanks Bhikkhu. Sorry to reply to you late but I guess this forum doesn’t send out notifications.
That depends on whether or not you ask for them. See the checkboxes below the message reply box.
J-Mac wrote:I can use bold and italic attributes with them in MS Word and in other applications that use rich text editors.
You can use bold and italic attributes with any font in Word etc.,, whether it has bold and italic typestyles or not. However, they are not true italic or bold versions of your font. Windows just simulates italic by slanting all of the glyphs, and simulates bold by thickening all of the strokes. It is a very crude method.
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