Adobe Systems Inc. today announced that the company has converted more than 650 converted Adobe Type Library (ATL) fonts into OpenType format. The converted fonts will provide users with improved cross-platform document portability, simpler font management, and enhanced glyph coverage.
Adobe indicated that today’s release is just the beginning; two additional sets of fonts will be released separately in the third and fourth calendar quarters of this year.
“By converting our type library, Adobe remains at the forefront of providing leading type solutions,” said Susan Altman Prescott vice president of cross-media publishing at Adobe. “Now our customers can use OpenType to take typography to the next level. The expanded multi-lingual character sets and advanced typographic glyphs are a perfect complement to InDesign 2.0 and network publishing.”
OpenType is a cross-platform font format, developed by Adobe and Microsoft Corp. that can include an expanded character set for expanded linguistic support and advanced typographic capabilities. The first set of OpenType fonts includes the standard range of Latin characters used throughout the western world, and several international characters, including the euro currency (EUR), “estimated,” and litre symbols. Future converted fonts will include merged character sets, so additional glyphs, such as oldstyle figures, small capitals and swashes, will be contained in one font file.
Adobe OpenType fonts can be installed and used alongside PostScript Type 1 and TrueType fonts, printed to most output devices and embedded in PDF files. Being cross-platform, OpenType fonts are natively supported on Windows 2000, Windows XP and Mac OS X, and are compatible with other operating systems via ATM Light, a free system software component from Adobe.
The first set of OpenType fonts from the Adobe Type Library are available immediately to customers in North America through the Adobe Store. Regular pricing varies, depending on the number of fonts in the family, ranging from US$29 to $299. A special introductory price is available upon the release of each set of converted fonts ranging from $19 to $150. Discount pricing for the first set of converted fonts is available now through July 31, 2002. Individual fonts are also available for purchase.