Text inconsistencies in Times New Roman?

[Mister F]

I've noticed two inconsistencies.  First the regular 'a' font in New Times Roman text does not match the italicized 'a'.  Either works for me, but they should be the same.  Second.  The marks of the apostrophe and quotation marks should match the comma mark, and don't.  You might note that the all these marks in this topic field's font somewhat match each other.  My regrets that I am old and hapless when iT comes to making such a report.

[Tactilis]

Welcome to the forum @Mister F

 

 

4 hours ago, Mister F said:

First the regular 'a' font in New Times Roman text does not match the italicized 'a'.

In what way are you expecting them to match?
 

 

4 hours ago, Mister F said:

The marks of the apostrophe and quotation marks should match the comma mark, and don't. 

You are probably referring to what are often called 'curly quotes', or 'smart quotes' in Microsoft Word (for example),

Here are two lines of text from paint.net in Times New Roman:

The top line is regular.

The bottom line is italic.

From left to right, the characters are:

Lowercase A

Apostrophe

Quotation Mark

Comma

Left Single Quotation Mark

Right Single Quotation Mark

Left Double Quotation Mark

Right Double Quotation Mark

 

There are no inconsistencies. It is working as expected.

 

 

 

Edited April 28 by Tactilis
Added a reference to curly quotes

[Pixey]

Could be that they are supposed to be different @Mister F

 

How are italics different from roman type?

 

 

Italics are sloping letters. Roman type is upright and the default font type. Italic type makes text stand out from surrounding roman type.Apr 19, 2023

[BDP]

There are two types of italic - roman letters slanted electronically, and true italics, eg, italics that are generated as italic when the font is first written

 

Brian

 

[Tactilis]

5 hours ago, BDP said:

There are two types of italic - roman letters slanted electronically, and true italics, eg, italics that are generated as italic when the font is first written

Not sure I agree with that statement.

Roman type = normal = upright = regular  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_type 

I think you are referring to Oblique type = slanted roman = sloped roman  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblique_type 

 

Italic, as you say, is distinct  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italic_type  - but there are not two types of italic.


In any case, @Mister F is referring to regular vs italic

 

 

[BDP]

But it all depends whether he is using a Roman font, and then slanting it. Which is not the same as a font drawn as italic in the first place

 

But you can disagree if you feel the  need to - I was only trying to point out the differences

 

Brian

 

[Tactilis]

2 minutes ago, BDP said:

But it all depends whether he is using a Roman font, and then slanting it.

 

But you can't do that in paint.net; you can only have Regular or Italic.


Lightbulb moment...

I've just realised that when @Mister F says - the regular 'a' in Times New Roman text does not match the italicized 'a' - he simply means that the way the letters are drawn is different:

But that's to be expected because that is how the font was designed. It's not an inconsistency and it has nothing to do with paint.net.

 

 

[Welsh Yellow Cheddar]

@Mister F You may need to use an alternative font to Times New Roman such as Baskerville.

[BDP]

Just checked a few of my PostScript Type 1 fonts, and almost all of them differentiate the 'a' when in Roman or Italic, and the 'f' as well, which has a descender when italic. So it's not a PDN problem - it is drawing them correctly. And it's not a font problem, that is how they are designed

 

Phew! Pleased the Lightbulb went on...

 

Brian

[Tactilis]

@Mister F if you want curly single or double quotes instead of the straight quotes, then the easiest way is to type pairs of quotes in Word* and then copy & paste the characters into paint.net.

 

* or any other app that auto-converts straight to curly quotes.

Alternatively, you can use ANSI ALT codes to type the characters directly into paint.net as follows:

ALT 0145    ‘   Left Single Quotation Mark

ALT 0146    ’   Right Single Quotation Mark

ALT 0147    “  Left Double Quotation Mark

ALT 0148    ”   Right Double Quotation Mark

The way you type these is:

• Make sure you switch on NumLock on your keyboard
• Press and hold down the Alt key  
• Type the ALT code digits on the numeric pad  (it does not work using the normal 0-9 digits)
• Release the Alt key and the symbol will appear

 

I mostly use this approach when entering the degree symbol °  (ALT 0176)

 

 

[Mister F]

Well, damn, I never looked closely but in the word program I use with WPS the italicised 'a' is also radically different from the non.  At least to my eye.  Still, iT's the only letter that is that different in nature.  I can live with that.  I'll have to research ANSI ALT codes, or whatever else further about curly quote marks.  I've been copying and pasting and iT's a major pain.  As Donald Sutherland might say,  "I only drive tanks.  I don't know what makes 'em work."

[Tactilis]

38 minutes ago, Mister F said:

Well, damn, I never looked closely but in the word program I use with WPS the italicised 'a' is also radically different from the non.

@Mister F It has nothing to do with the program you are using; it's simply the design of the font. In Times New Roman, regular and italic 'a' are intended to be different.

 

 

 

48 minutes ago, Mister F said:

Still, it's the only letter that is that different in nature.

The letter 'f' is also somewhat different in Times New Roman for regular and italic: 

 

55 minutes ago, Mister F said:

I'll have to research ANSI ALT codes, or whatever else further about curly quote marks.  I've been copying and pasting and it's a major pain.

 

There's nothing to research; just follow the simple steps described above, then you won't have to copy and paste.