The Font element in the PDF configuration file lets you configure font locations, map .tfm file names to fonts, and enable font substitutions, embedding, and subsets. Consult the PDF DTD Element Usage (FOSI) for detailed information on the elements and their attributes.

Arbortext Command Language and the Arbortext Publishing Engine use font metrics to lay out the text of a document into paragraphs and pages. However, a real font is necessary for rendering the page. A real font is a raster or vector font. A raster font (a .pk file) contains pixels for all characters in the font rasterized to a particular resolution. A vector font (a type 1 or true type font) contains instructions for drawing the character outlines.

The FontName element specifies real fonts. These font names may contain Unicode characters. The FontName element has a select attribute that sets the data condition for a particular operating system. If you use select, the value must match one of the tokens generated by the application (for example Windows), called the selection criteria. A select attribute may include more than one token. If any of them is equal to any of the selection criteria tokens, then the FontName matches. If a select attribute is empty or not present, then a match is assumed. The encoding attribute specifies the encoding to use with the specified font. Eight-bit and multi-byte formats are supported.

The FontName element can name a system font or a font outline file (TTF, PFA, or PFB). The type of file is specified in the type attribute, and the path and file name is specified in the path attribute. If the type is SYS, the path is ignored. If path contains a relative path, the search is relative to the custom\fonts subdirectory. The contents of the FontName tag for a font outline file should be the name of the font as represented in the outline file.

The FontName element has a simulate attribute that can specify the kind of simulation (such as bold or italic) to apply to the font. The simulateMode attribute specifies how to apply the simulation, either by modifying the font display within the PDF (by displaying characters at an angle for italic or through multiple registrations for bold) or by setting a flag that tells the PDF viewer to render the simulation.

The Map element associates the name of a .tfm file with a font. Multiple real fonts may be listed, but Arbortext Editor and Arbortext Publishing Engine use only the first match. This allows the select attribute to determine which font is used on a given platform.

For fonts that are not specified in FontName, are not mapped in this file, and do not have the specified font face available, you can use the Simulation elements Bold and Italics to simulate bold and italic faces. Use simulated bold, italic, and bold-italic font styles for CJK fonts and Arial Unicode MS, which don't have bold or italic faces.

The Locations element can specify directories where the direct PDF process searches for font files.

The FontPath element specifies PK raster font files. The dpi attribute specifies the resolution of the fonts. The contents of the element are the path to the .pk file relative to the pixels directory.

You can specify Substitute to use a different font in the PDF file than was used in the original file. The substitute font must have the same font metrics as the original font. Arbortext Editor and Arbortext Publishing Engine use the first replacement that matches the selection criteria.

Embedding lets you select the fonts that are embedded or prevent embedding in the PDF file. The subsetting attribute allows you to control whether to embed the whole font or just the characters needed by the PDF file.