Numismatica Font Project Numismatica Font Project
Page Up Next Page

Cross Font Code Examples

CautionThis is an outdated 8-bit font. It is not a Unicode font and is unsuitable for use on Internet web pages. It may be useful for internal documents or those to be exchanged with others who own the same font.


OpenType and TrueType NOTE: You cannot view this page as intended unless you have the Cross and Cross Symbol fonts installed on your computer.

Macromedia has provided sample source code as a template font for developing cross-platform fonts. This page gives developers some tests for Cross and Cross Symbol TrueType font presentation in a browser when the underlying HTML source code type differs. Comparisons of four web page character coding methods are presented in four-color charts. This page has a character set encoding of "charset=windows-1252". Pages with these same charts, but different declared character set encodings, may be seen at "ISO-8859-1", "UTF-8" and on a page with no character set encoding. A verification image provides confidence that the font appears as it should.


The Numismatica font project requires development of a interim 8-bit font with identical performance on all platforms and the ability to display properly on web pages, plus have backward compatibility with earlier systems. Macromedia's Cross font is a tutorial font designed for Macintosh and Windows cross-platform use. It includes only the character positions recognized by most Macintosh and Windows operating systems and thus provides a template for fonts fully portable between those operating systems.

Cross font is suited to large-point text, but its use on this page provides an easily available font for Fontographer developers to validate cross-platform behavior of the four different HTML text entry techniques and their appearance in web browsers. Four-color comparison charts of these coding methods are presented below using (1) ANSI font decimal codes, (2) ANSI font characters, (3) HTML 4.0 entity codes, and (4) Unicode hexadecimal codes, as defined here.

Two versions of the font are used on this page, Cross and Cross Symbol. To create the font, you must use Macromedia Fontographer software to generate it from the source code which is available as a learning tool from Macromedia. The Cross font characters are copyrighted by the Treacyfaces font foundry and licensing restrictions prohibit my distribution of the font; you'll have to generate your own.

All usable cross-platform characters except delete are included in the charts below, which include the 17 characters that you must remove if supporting Mac Word.


Characters in Cross Font
Comparing Source Codes

This chart compares the four types of source code for characters in the Cross font. See the verification image to confirm correct presentation in your browser. Without the Cross font installed, you'll see this chart in your browser's default font.

Cross font using ANSI font decimal codes (white)
Cross font using ANSI font characters (yellow)
Cross font using HTML entity codes (blue)
Cross font using Unicode hexadecimal (green)
! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 : ; < = > ?
! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 : ; < = > ?
! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 : ; < = > ?
! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 : ; < = > ?
@ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z [ \ ] ^ _
@ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z [ \ ] ^ _
@ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z [ \ ] ^ _
@ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z [ \ ] ^ _
` a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z { | } ~
` a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z { | } ~
` a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z { | } ~
` a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z { | } ~
‚ ƒ „ … † ‡ ˆ ‰ Š ‹ Œ ‘ ’ “ ” • – — ˜ ™ š › œ Ÿ <-- See comments
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
‚ ƒ „ … † ‡ ˆ ‰ Š ‹ Œ ‘ ’ “ ” • – — ˜ ™ š › œ Ÿ
‚ ƒ „ … † ‡ ˆ ‰ Š ‹ Œ ‘ ’ “ ” • – — ˜ ™ š › œ Ÿ
  ¡ ¢ £ ¤ ¥ ¦ § ¨ © ª « ¬ ­ ® ¯ ° ± ² ³ ´ µ ¶ · ¸ ¹ º » ¼ ½ ¾ ¿
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
  ¡ ¢ £ ¤ ¥ ¦ § ¨ © ª « ¬ ­ ® ¯ ° ± ² ³ ´ µ ¶ · ¸ ¹ º » ¼ ½ ¾ ¿
  ¡ ¢ £ ¤ ¥ ¦ § ¨ © ª « ¬ − ® ¯ ° ± ² ³ ´ μ ¶ ∙ ¸ ¹ º » ¼ ½ ¾ ¿
À Á Â Ã Ä Å Æ Ç È É Ê Ë Ì Í Î Ï Ð Ñ Ò Ó Ô Õ Ö × Ø Ù Ú Û Ü Ý Þ ß
????????????????????????????????
À Á Â Ã Ä Å Æ Ç È É Ê Ë Ì Í Î Ï Ð Ñ Ò Ó Ô Õ Ö × Ø Ù Ú Û Ü Ý Þ ß
À Á Â Ã Ä Å Æ Ç È É Ê Ë Ì Í Î Ï Ð Ñ Ò Ó Ô Õ Ö × Ø Ù Ú Û Ü Ý Þ ß
à á â ã ä å æ ç è é ê ë ì í î ï ð ñ ò ó ô õ ö ÷ ø ù ú û ü ý þ ÿ
????????????????????????????????/font>
à á â ã ä å æ ç è é ê ë ì í î ï ð ñ ò ó ô õ ö ÷ ø ù ú û ü ý þ ÿ
à á â ã ä å æ ç è é ê ë ì í î ï ð ñ ò ó ô õ ö ÷ ø ù ú û ü ý þ ÿ


Characters in Cross Symbol Font
Comparing Source Codes

This chart compares the four types of source code for characters in the Cross Symbol font, insuring the Unicode Private area codes in the font are properly remapped. See the verification image to confirm correct presentation in your browser. Without the Cross Symbol font installed, you'll see this chart in your browser's default font.

Cross Symbol font using ANSI font decimal codes (white)
Cross Symbol font using ANSI font characters (yellow)
Cross Symbol font using HTML entity codes (blue)
Cross Symbol font using Unicode hexadecimal (green)
! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 : ; < = > ?
! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 : ; < = > ?
! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 : ; < = > ?
! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 : ; < = > ?
@ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z [ \ ] ^ _
@ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z [ \ ] ^ _
@ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z [ \ ] ^ _
@ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z [ \ ] ^ _
` a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z { | } ~
` a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z { | } ~
` a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z { | } ~
` a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z { | } ~
‚ ƒ „ … † ‡ ˆ ‰ Š ‹ Œ ‘ ’ “ ” • – — ˜ ™ š › œ Ÿ <-- See comments
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
‚ ƒ „ … † ‡ ˆ ‰ Š ‹ Œ ‘ ’ “ ” • – — ˜ ™ š › œ Ÿ
‚ ƒ „ … † ‡ ˆ ‰ Š ‹ Œ ‘ ’ “ ” • – — ˜ ™ š › œ Ÿ
  ¡ ¢ £ ¤ ¥ ¦ § ¨ © ª « ¬ ­ ® ¯ ° ± ² ³ ´ µ ¶ · ¸ ¹ º » ¼ ½ ¾ ¿
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
  ¡ ¢ £ ¤ ¥ ¦ § ¨ © ª « ¬ ­ ® ¯ ° ± ² ³ ´ µ ¶ · ¸ ¹ º » ¼ ½ ¾ ¿
  ¡ ¢ £ ¤ ¥ ¦ § ¨ © ª « ¬ − ® ¯ ° ± ² ³ ´ μ ¶ ∙ ¸ ¹ º » ¼ ½ ¾ ¿
À Á Â Ã Ä Å Æ Ç È É Ê Ë Ì Í Î Ï Ð Ñ Ò Ó Ô Õ Ö × Ø Ù Ú Û Ü Ý Þ ß
????????????????????????????????
À Á Â Ã Ä Å Æ Ç È É Ê Ë Ì Í Î Ï Ð Ñ Ò Ó Ô Õ Ö × Ø Ù Ú Û Ü Ý Þ ß
À Á Â Ã Ä Å Æ Ç È É Ê Ë Ì Í Î Ï Ð Ñ Ò Ó Ô Õ Ö × Ø Ù Ú Û Ü Ý Þ ß
à á â ã ä å æ ç è é ê ë ì í î ï ð ñ ò ó ô õ ö ÷ ø ù ú û ü ý þ ÿ
????????????????????????????????/font>
à á â ã ä å æ ç è é ê ë ì í î ï ð ñ ò ó ô õ ö ÷ ø ù ú û ü ý þ ÿ
à á â ã ä å æ ç è é ê ë ì í î ï ð ñ ò ó ô õ ö ÷ ø ù ú û ü ý þ ÿ


Font Creation

Production of both Macintosh and Windows versions of the TrueType fonts was accomplished on a Windows XP computer using Fontographer for Windows, version 4.1.5, with the final PC-to-Mac conversion done on a Macintosh OS9. Only one FOG file was used to create all the fonts as follows:

A Cross font test document in RTF and Microsoft Word for Windows 2002 formats is available for download here. It provides an explanation of the character mapping and codes used. It also contains information about using custom fonts in Microsoft Word, and the process for converting fonts created in Fontographer for Windows into Macintosh fonts.


Cross-Platform Compatibility

Experiments on Windows XP and Macintosh OS9 computers has shown there are 212 usable character slots for cross-platform use, not counting the space, delete, non-breaking space and soft hyphen characters required by the operating systems and thus unusable for use as other glyphs.

MS Word 2001 for Macintosh on OS9 does not support 20 ANSI characters, those not included in the MacRoman character set while Netscape 7.0 browser does support them. These characters (and their ANSI decimal codes) are the Scaron (138), scaron (154), currency (164), brokenbar (166), twosuperior (178), threesuperior (179), onesuperior (185), onequarter (188), onehalf (189), threequarters (190), Eth (208), multiply (215), Yacute (221), Thorn (222), eth (240), yacute (253) and thorn (254). The Zcaron and zcaron were not designed into Cross font, and Windows soft hyphen is handled by mapping the MacRoman minus sign to the ANSI soft hyphen character code (173). Thus we lose 17 character positions if Mac Word 2001 is to be supported, reducing the usable cross-platform characters to 195.

Note: The euro sign postdates development of the Cross font, but still can not be considered for cross-platform use because Macintosh and Windows do not use equivalent positions for implementing it: Macintosh replaced the currency sign with the Euro, while Windows placed Euro on an unused code position and retained the currency sign. Macintosh applications may or may not substitute euro for the currency symbol, and therefore cross-platform fonts should not use the currency character position (decimal 119 on the Mac, ANSI 164 on Windows). The Mac version of Cross font was fixed, but you must correct the Windows version FOG file to make character position 164 "not defined" (.notdef).

The euro character is encoded in the Unicode Standard as U+20AC EURO SIGN, MacRoman Encoding decimal 219, hex 0xDB. For Apple Symbol font, the glyph has been added at Option-t (MacRoman Encoding decimal 160, hex 0xA0, previously unused).

Also note that Cross font uses several Unicode equivalents from locations other than the Latin-1 Supplement block:

ANSI
Number
Cross font usage Alternate
Latin-1 Supplement code
173 minus 2212 soft hyphen 0xAD
175 macron 02C9 macron 0xAF
181 mu 03BC micro sign 0xB5
183 periodcentered 2219 middle dot 0xB7

 


Note that portable fonts do NOT work with basic text editors. They are designed for desktop publishing applications or word processing formatted files because they read the font's encoding, whereas a basic text editor does not.

The standard Macintosh TrueType fonts (Times, Helvetica, Courier) are actually quite different from the standard Windows fonts (Times New Roman, Arial, Courier New). Although these fonts come from the same font families, the actual font metrics are different. So even a short document can paginate differently when you move it to the other platform, and a long document can display a considerable difference in pages.

However, Word for Mac also contains the same Microsoft TrueType font set that's found in Word for Windows. So to minimize font-mapping difficulties, stick with Times New Roman, Arial, Courier New, and Wingdings when you need to share Word documents between Macs and PCs.


Use of some ANSI characters in HTML

The ANSI character set contains all the ISO Latin 1 (ISO 8859-1) characters, plus the following  additional 27 visible characters in the range 128 to 159 decimal:

128-159.gif (511x39 -- 2000 bytes)

Of these 27 characters, only 24 are included in the Cross font. Numeric references in HTML to their ANSI code positions may create problems for those who don't use a Windows browser. For example, a web page which uses &#153; to represent a trademark symbol will be seen on a Unix browser or possibly other non-Windows systems as a blank instead of the proper symbol, or something worse. A document by Jukka Korpela explains this problem in detail.

If you want Cross font to have absolute cross-platform compatibility in HTML browsers (where the web page author can't make a mistake), you would eliminate an additional 24 characters from the font, leaving only 171 useable characters. However, full compatibility is achieved if web page authors avoid using a numeric representation of the ANSI characters in the range 128 to 159 decimal (for example, &#153;). Instead, they must use the HTML 4.0 entity codes (&trade;) or Unicode values (&#x2122; or &#8722;) in their HTML source code. Note that ANSI characters from 128 to 159 decimal conflict with equivalent Unicode assignments; Unicode characters in this range are non-visible control characters.



This page last updated 13 Mar 2021

Page Up Next Page
Home Site Index Site Map Feedback New Items Tech Info Search

Online since 28 March 1998
Copyright ©1998-2021 Edward C. D. Hopkins, all rights reserved

Click button to support Parthia.com   Click button to validate this page as HTML 4.01 compliant Click button to validate this page as CSS 3 compliant