[reportlab-users] Scaling PDF fonts to match windows

[Marius Gedminas]

On Fri, May 30, 2003 at 05:01:59PM -0400, Ian Sparks wrote:
> As a test I wrote a line of text in Word and printed it.
> 
> Then using the adobe add-in to word I converted this to PDF and
> printed the resulting PDF.
> 
> The font sizes were different. They both were 12pt but they looked and
> printed different.
> 
> I discovered that for MS Sans Serif I had to multiply the font size by
> 1.21 to get a near-exact match. For 8pt MS Sans Serif the multiplier
> was 1.33 to get the match I wanted.
> 
> Question : Is there an algorithm for working out the scaling required
> or is this going to be trial and error for every font and size?
> 
> Anyone have a clue?

Knuth says that the point size is "a more-or-less arbitrary number that
reflects the size of type [a font] is intended to blend with [with other
fonts of the same family]".

See also: http://nwalsh.com/comp.fonts/FAQ/cf_8.htm#SEC16

Marius Gedminas
-- 
"I really didn't foresee the Internet. But then, neither did the computer
industry. Not that that tells us very much of course - the computer industry
didn't even foresee that the century was going to end." -- Douglas Adams