Re: [tlug] Japanese font for PDF files

[CL <az.4tlug@example.com>]

Dave M G wrote:
> TLUG,
>
> I'm working on a project right now where I have to create PDF files with
> PHP. These PDF files will have to write out Japanese text on top of some
> existing PDF templates.
>
> I've got as far as creating the PDF and writing text into them. I'm
> using PDFB library, as was recommended to me by someone on the PHP
> user's list.
> http://chir.ag/projects/pdfb/
>
> The only sticking point now is that I need to use a Japanese font. The
> PDFB scripts (which draw upon other commonly used PDF creation scripts)
> does allow you to add the ability for other fonts and encodings, and
> provides a handy tutorial:
> http://www.fpdf.org/en/tutorial/tuto7.htm
>
> What I'm stuck in is what font should I use. On the one hand, I can
> embed a font into the PDF file. But with a Japanese font, that can bloat
> the file by an additional 3 to 5 megabytes, which is a little extreme
> for a one page document.
>
> The other option is to rely on system fonts. Given that the people who
> get these documents are likely to be PC and Mac users, what would be the
> font I can declare.
>
> I think part of what confuses me is that as a web guy, I'm used to using
> CSS and declaring a family of fonts, and a list of fonts to default to
> if the first choice is not available. With PDF, it seems you can declare
> one font, and I'm unclear as to what happens if that font is not found.
> That makes me a bit nervous about choosing the wrong font.
>
> I'm hoping and assuming that I can use utf-8 as my encoding, since my
> whole web application is utf-8 based and I dread mixing encodings.
>
> Is there a Microsoft font that would be widely used enough? Am I
> worrying over nothing and there is a way most systems handle this problem?
>
> Any tips would be much appreciated.

My personal favorites for regular work are MS Mincho and MS UI Gothic. 
The later is a bit broader, the spacing (kerning) is more relaxed and, 
IMNSHO, is easier to read than MS Gothic.  The san-serif equivalent for 
UI Gothic is also a nicer Roman typeface than many of the others.  I 
have about 2,000 kanji variants but seem to stick to about two Mincho 
and two or three Gothic variants.

--
CL