TrueTypes not working

TreeDraw Standard Edition and TreeDraw Legacy Edition; our genealogy charting software.

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rich
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2006 6:49 am
Location: Australia

TrueTypes not working

Post by rich » Tue Oct 24, 2006 12:53 am

Can't fathom what's happened to almost all my TrueType fonts in TreeDraw. Even the old standards Arial & Times New Roman aren't TrueType anymore, despite their files in Windows Explorer saying that they are. I think it may have been the case since upgrading from Win 98 to XP a couple of years ago, & only now coming to light as i re-enter a phase of family research.

I'm not sure if it's relevant or not, but most of the TrueTypes listed in Options>Graphics are Asian ones that were part of some Asian languages option that i mistakenly installed with Windows. I've tried deleting the font files, but for most i get "Access Denied".

Word still lists the usual comprehensive list of TrueTypes - including Arial & Times New Roman, but TreeDraw lists most of them as OpenType or blank, and either way they don't work. If i try to use Times New Roman which in Word is TrueType, it misbehaves impossibly in TreeDraw wrapping. There are a very few that i can get by on, but the main problem is that all my old charts are now not editable, & also that if i email a TDR chart, the recipient may need the oddball font that i'd have to use (?). TreeDraw's effectively useless, so i need to sort it out somehow but have no idea what to do.
**** Win XP, TreeDraw 2.11 ****

i have a small GIF screenshot of the fonts combo box which would give good insight, but can't figure out how to insert it (img button puts "img" in - then what? Looks like it needs a URL, but i don't have a website) Sorry, bit foggy on HTML too

Nick Hunter
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Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2005 9:36 am
Location: SpanSoft, Scotland
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Post by Nick Hunter » Tue Oct 24, 2006 9:30 am

In Windows XP most of the fonts were changed to OpenType. These are just an extension of the TrueType fonts and the technology is sometimes referred to as TrueTypeOpen.

Both types of font will work in TreeDraw.

rich
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2006 6:49 am
Location: Australia

Post by rich » Wed Oct 25, 2006 8:57 am

Thanks for clarifying that. Doesn't seem to depend on TrueType/OpenType as it seemed at first. Tried more today, results below (didn't try any unmarked fonts). In the "BAD" ones below (normal or bold), with wrap ON, for all but the briefest entries, it undercalculates the box width and always wraps a bit off the end onto the next line, however much you try to enlarge the box. (Making the box smaller's no problem). So there's only two options:
Wrap OFF Full line width, no wrapping
Wrap ON Usually a bit of wrapping, like it or not, often even for short lines

So it's all a bit impossible to do a proper chart. There are a very few that work properly.

OK:
Century (OT)
MS PGothic (TT)

BAD:
Arial (OT)
Dotum (TT) long lines only
Lucida sans (TT)
Lucida sans Unicode (OT)
Palatino Linotype (TT) long lines only
Times New Roman (OT)
Tahoma (TT)
Verdana (OT)

PS Also have MS Office installed, but no other publishing etc apps

Nick Hunter
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Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2005 9:36 am
Location: SpanSoft, Scotland
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Post by Nick Hunter » Wed Oct 25, 2006 9:10 am

It may be something to do with the display driver which could make TreeDraw miscalculate the actual width of text.

Try changing the display settings in "Control Panel | Display | Settings" particularly the screen resolution and the "Advanced | DPI setting".

rich
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2006 6:49 am
Location: Australia

Post by rich » Thu Oct 26, 2006 8:21 am

Thanks for the time, Nick. No joy though:

(All Arial) 120 96 72
800x600 same same same
1024x768 same Std(bad) same
1280x960 same same same

Am set to Windows Classic. In Display Properties>Appearence>Font Size, am using Normal, but tried Extra Large, still bad
Monitor is 15"CRT, with latest XP driver
Installed two other printers from XP's own library - all same.
Probably doesn't affect anything, but i realized that in the tests in previous post, the Default Text Width was set too short for the extra long line that i'd been using to guage the extent of badness. Set it out far enough, retested, and turns out that the 2 that appeared bad "for long lines only" are in fact OK. Rest as posted; here's the amended list:

OK:
Century (OT)
Dotum (TT)
MS PGothic (TT)
Palatino Linotype (TT)

BAD:
Arial (OT)
Lucida sans (TT)
Lucida sans Unicode (OT)
Tahoma (TT)
Times New Roman (OT)
Verdana (OT)

TreeDraw's own settings all seem harmless enough, i think:
Default Width 2000
SnapToGrid On
Word Wrap when i import ON

Nick Hunter
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Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2005 9:36 am
Location: SpanSoft, Scotland
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Post by Nick Hunter » Thu Oct 26, 2006 9:46 am

I've just noticed that in your original post you said that you were using TreeDraw V2. This problem was fixed in TreeDraw V3.0.

Please upgrade to TreeDraw V3 at http://www.spansoft.org/upgrade.php

rich
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2006 6:49 am
Location: Australia

Post by rich » Thu Oct 26, 2006 10:09 am

Might continue for the mo using the fonts that do work, unless this's a bad idea? eg sending TDR files to others with TDviewer OK?
Might make sense to wait for next major KK & TD - any ballpark indication of when? eg new versions for Vista32, Vista64 or Longhorn?
Ta R

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