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Commonly asked questions about font encoding




Must I use T1/Cork encoding for proper hyphenation?

No. Any encoding that makes the accented and special characters accessible will work. For Western European languages this means that LY1 can be used, for example.

Must I use "EC" fonts for proper hyphenation?

No. Any text font set that includes the accented characters you need will do. For Western European languages this means most of the 90,000 fonts in Type 1 format, including printer resident fonts like Times, Helvetica and Courier. If you like the "Computer Modern" look, you may want to use "European Modern" fonts.

Do I need to use LaTeX 2e?

No. You can use LY1 encoding with plain TeX and LaTeX 2.09. LaTeX 2e (the current LaTeX) does provide a systematic high level way of working with fonts, however.

Do I need "text companion" fonts?

No. LY1 exposes all characters in typical text fonts --- unlike T1 encoding which displaces 38 of the 228 characters in order to make space for Eastern European glyphs (that do not occur in typical text fonts). Look at Cork missing to see the misplaced glyphs. To provide access to the displaced glyphs one is forced to use TS1 encoded "text companion" fonts when using T1/Cork encoding for text fonts.

How difficult is it to use LY1 encoding with DVIPS?

It's quite simple. Here is the readme.txt file that comes with the above LY1 support file:

  • Add the line "p+ psfonts.ly1" to your "config.ps" file.

  • Put "texnansi.enc" where DVIPS looks for PS prologs (i.e. where your "8r.enc" may be found).

  • Copy the *.fd files from the "fd" directory to where your LaTeX *.fd files are (see TEXINPUTS variable).

  • Copy the style files from the "ly1" directory to where your LaTeX looks for style files (see TEXINPUTS variable).

  • Copy the *.tfm files from the "tfm" directory to where your TeX looks for *.tfm files (see TEXFONTS variable).

  • Add "\usepackage[LY1]{fontenc}" to your source file between the "\documentclass{...}" and the "\begin{document}"

  • Rest. Enjoy the simplicity of LY1 encoding!

Version 0.3 1997/Dec/25

TeX 'n ANSI (LY1) layout ;

Cork (T1) layout;

Textures (LM1) layout;

Text companion (TS1) layout (commonly available useful glyphs missing from T1);

TeX Base 1 (8R) layout

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