Fonts look like ass on Windows

[mga]

I've written a database in FM8/Mac, and am testing it on Windows. Fonts look terrible.

I've used Tahoma (one of the MS core fonts for web) throughout, and hadn't anticipated any difficulty. But the fonts are much too large when I open the database in Windows, and it makes my layout look very poor.

In a search, I found out that other people had encountered this. But I didn't find any solutions. What are people doing to work around the problem? Should I make all the fonts smaller on the Mac (ie. basically compromise the Mac layout) so it displays correctly on Windows?

[kmhappel]

I do alot of cross platform work and have gone to the font warehouses and bought a set that are realtively neutral in display terms. Short of that try these suggestions...

(1) don't use Trebuchet from Microsoft

(2) check to make sure that your windows machine is outfitted with a "Clear Type Tuning" control and you have used it to optimize the types. It will solve about 50% of the problem. Its free from Microsoft and makes a gigantic difference: http:[color:purple]//www.microsoft.com/typography/ClearTypeInfo.mspx It may even solve your problem with Tahoma and Verdana that are native ClearType fonts.

(3) if you need a fixed width type for code or some other reason try "Crystal" it is a freeware font and it is relatively well designed so that "i and l" characters don't cause white gaps in text.

(4) For some headline text I make the text into an image and import it, look at the screens I uploaded in this thread: ( http://www.fmforums.com/forum/showtopic.php?tid/174044/ ) they are completely set up for cross-platform use. The text logo at the upper right is an image.

(5) the font houses sell a number of Clear Type fonts that perform nearly the same on bith platforms and with Linus and Unix (x windows) as well.

Hope this helps...

[Chris Baumbach]

If the fonts looked pixelated or aliased, turn on font smoothing in the Display Properties --> Appearance --> Effects dialog. As an AutoCAD user I've always had this off, but FMP text looks much better with it on.

Chris

[mga]

In the end, I fixed the layout on Windows. It still looks OK on the Mac.

This is weird. FM do mention it in their help (do a search for "platform") but totally understate the case ... they say "there can be subtle differences" but in my opinion the differences are pronounced.

My recommendation: if you're building on a Mac, allow lots of overflow room in all text boxes and factor in time to check/amend the layouts on Windows.