Using Fonts with the SCE Starter Kit
With the Syndicated Client Experiences (SCE) Starter Kit, we are providing nice, small-character-set, sample fonts that have been optimized for the WPF reading experience. However, you may prefer to use the fonts you are already using in your print-based publications, or to license new fonts. This document will provide with you information about licensing fonts, how to install fonts with your SCE application, what font formats are supported by the Starter Kit, and how to optimize the quality of fonts used in your application. This document also includes a link to download the Sample Font Pack.
Font Licensing
OpenType and TrueType fonts contain a type flag, fsType, which indicates font embedding licensing rights for the font. This type flag only relates to embedding fonts in document files – it does not relate to embedding or shipping fonts with an application. For fonts you would like to redistribute with your WPF-based reader application, please read the end user license agreement carefully. Licenses that govern the use and redistribution of fonts vary from vendor to vendor but in general most licenses, including those covering the fonts Microsoft supplies with applications and Windows, do not allow the fonts to be embedded within applications or otherwise redistributed. In most cases you will need to acquire additional rights with your font supplier if you wish to redistribute their fonts with your reader application. As a developer or publisher it is your responsibility to ensure that you have the required license rights. If you are uncertain, please contact your font supplier.
Options for installing fonts with your SCE application
You can specify fonts to display user interface text, headlines, captions and body text in your reader application. When licensing fonts for redistribution with WPF and related Silverlight based applications font vendors will likely specify how their fonts can be redistributed and enumerated to minimize possible re-use, and lost end-user sales.
Fonts for SCE applications can be installed in the Windows fonts folder or directly in the folder which contains the SCE application. If the fonts are installed in the Windows fonts folder, they will be available for use in all applications on the computer. If they are installed in the SCE application folder, they will only be available to the SCE application. Alternatively, you can flag fonts as resources and compile them with the executable file for the application. The fonts get stored inside a binary file with the code for the application. This is the safest way to prevent users from accessing fonts and using them outside of the SCE application, and font vendors will likely require that you use this approach.
In addition, you may decide to publish a cross-platform version of your WPF-based reader application using Silverlight, the Web based version of WPF. In this case, font files are hosted on the same server where the Silverlight application is being deployed. Fonts residing on the server can be compressed, subsetted and/or obfuscated to protect them from misuse. Again, font vendors will likely require their fonts to be compressed, subsetted and obfuscated to minimize casual extraction and re-use.
What font formats are supported?
SCE applications built on WPF or Silverlight can use OpenType fonts in both TrueType and CFF flavors. Standard TrueType fonts will also work; however, Type 1 and bitmap fonts are not supported. Contact your font vendor if you’re not sure which format you are using.
Optimizing font quality
On-screen rendering quality is important for fonts used with the reader application. The sample fonts we have provided have been lightly hinted for ClearType to maximize their readability at small sizes on-screen. In general light hinting works best for TrueType and OpenType TrueType fonts. Below is an example of text displayed in the reader application. The first line of text is displayed using an un-hinted font. The second line of text uses a font which was auto-hinted using FontLab. The third line of text was hinted by hand, specifically for use with the reader.
If you have questions about the quality of your fonts we encourage you to contact your font supplier, use the fonts we have provided with the SDK or contact us for a list of preferred font suppliers.
Sample Font Pack
The Sample Font Pack includes the following fonts, developed by Ascender Corporation:
- Gloucester News Condensed Bold
- Mayberry News Regular
- Mayberry News Light
- Mayberry News Condensed Semi Bold
- Mayberry News Condensed Extra Bold
- News Gothic News Bold
- Nimrod News Regular
- Nimrod News Bold
- Segoe News Symbol
To preview the Sample Font Pack fonts in PDF format, click here.
Click here to download the Sample Font Pack.
Instructions for installing the Sample Font Pack:
- On Windows XP:
- Download the font pack
- Double-click the "SCEsdk.exe" executable file
- On the Open File dialog, choose "Run"
- Accept the License Terms by clicking "Yes"
- On Windows Vista
- Download the font pack
- Right-click on the "SCEsdk.exe" executable file and choose "Run as administrator"
- On the Open File dialog, choose "Run"
- Accept the License Terms by clicking "Yes"
The fonts in the Sample Font Pack are licensed by Ascender Corporation. To license extended or custom versions of any of the fonts in the Sample Font Pack please contact Ascender Corporation directly via their Web site: http://www.ascendercorp.com/MediaWPF_fonts.html.