WD: Word Displays Font Attributes Differently

ID: Q107351

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 2.0, 2.0a, 2.0a-CD, 2.0b, 2.0c, 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c
Microsoft Word for the Macintosh versions 5.0, 5.1, 6.0, 6.0.1

SUMMARY

This article describes how versions of Word for Windows differ in the way they display font attributes such as underlines, superscripts, subscripts, and the italicized insertion point on the screen.

MORE INFORMATION

Word for Windows 6.0 and Word for the Macintosh 6.0

Word 6.0 obtains font attribute information from the font definition itself. Word does not impose internal, built-in parameters on the display of font attributes. As a result, font attributes are displayed in Word just as they are printed. Specifically, Word displays the following font attributes based on information from the font definition file (Windows) or "FOND" resource (Macintosh):

   Size of underline (includes double underline and strikethrough)

   Distance of underline from baseline of font (includes double
   underline and strikethrough)

   Distance from baseline for superscripted or subscripted characters

   Appropriate size to use for superscripted characters

   Degree of italicization

   Pair kerning information for particular characters

This functionality means that your Word 6.0 documents may look better on the screen than they do in earlier versions of Word.

Word 2.x for Windows and Word for the Macintosh 5.x

Word uses built-in, internal parameters to determine how to position font attributes. Word does not use the font attribute information from the font definition file, which is specific to that font. As a result, Word may display font attributes in a manner that is not well suited to a particular font. However, under Windows, when you print your Word document, the font attributes print correctly because the printer driver uses the font definition file to determine the position of the font attributes. On the Macintosh, documents will be printed the same way they are displayed on the screen due to the way QuickDraw works.

Additional query words: true type

Keywords          : kbdisplay kbprint winword macword word6 winword2 kbFont macword5 
Version           : WINDOWS: 2.x, 6.x; MACINTOSH: 5
Issue type        : kbinfo

Last Reviewed: August 1, 1997