Fonts & Character Sets ⇒ Self Publishing - Choosing a Font

[aerodoc]

I am self publishing and engineering text/reference book and have hired a designer to create the layout and put everything together.

However, we are having difficultly agreeing on a font for equations. In the manuscript, I use MathType, which can be output to Latex if needed. He has a good idea to use a font compatible with Latex because MathType is limited in some cases.

But the fonts that he likes, I don't and vice versa. I like Times New Roman or even just Roman as these seem to be standard. He like century schoolbook and some others.

I would like some input on Latex compatible fonts that work well for engineering text/reference books. Regretfully, I did not do a search, but I am in a big hurry now. Maybe even a link if this has been beaten to death.

[frabjous]

Here's a listing of fonts with math support from the LaTeX font catalogue:
http://www.tug.dk/FontCatalogue/mathfonts.html

Perhaps you could compromise with Palatino, KP Serif, URW Garamond or Utopia.

Personally, I'm a bit bored by Times--too many undergraduate papers using it. I like Schoolbook, but it is a font that was designed for children's books, and I can see it turning a few off.

[localghost]

You may also take a look at the document »A Survey of Free Math Fonts for TeX and LaTeX« to get an idea how those fonts look "in action".


Best regards and welcome to the board
Thorsten

[aerodoc]

Great info!

To clarify, I was wanting to use Minion Pro for the body text http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minion_%28typeface%29

and Times New Roman for the equations. I have never used Latex, but we want the option to export equations from MathType to Latex, then covert them into to InDesign via this program, http://www.tug.org/texworks/

Can this even work with Times New Roman for the equations? I am beginning to think perhaps not? In that event, should I just select one of the free math fonts listed in the survey?

[shadgrind]

If you like Times then you'd probably like the txfonts package for math. If you like New Century Schoolbook then you'd probably like the fouriernc package. I've published two books using fouriernc and haven't had any complaints about the fonts. There's also the fourier package, which uses Utopia instead of New Century Schoolbook.

An alternative is to use XeLaTeX with the STIX fonts, which are very Times-ish.

One thing to watch out for is consistency in the fonts. For example, if numbers and nonitalicized letters in math mode look different than they do in text mode, that's not good; it comes off as amateurish. The font packages I've mentioned are all complete, i.e. they make everything consistent, as is the default Computer Modern.

[aerodoc]

I am starting to figure things out and can better pose the question. I don't think that I was doing a good job before.

I want to use a windows font for both the body text and equations. 95% of the equations will go straight from MathType to InDesign. HOWEVER, there are a handful of equations that don't look good in MathType and there is no way to change that. Enter Latex as a possible solution. I create a PDF of the equation and insert it into InDesign. I am not using a full blow Latex solution though.

So I have selected a windows body font, which is the Minion Pro. Based on the survey, I like a few of them and think Fourier-Gutenberg could work. But I will need a windows font for it and can't seem to create an OTF from the .pfb. I was able to do this for Utopia, but that isn't the font I need.

So is this making sense now? I am NOT primarily using latex for the book. Rather I just want to generate a handful of equations via Latex and insert them in via PDF.

[frabjous]

Why not use the LaTeX minionpro package with mnsymbol for the symbols?

[aerodoc]

I need to take a step back since I am now realizing what is wrong with my thinking.

- Can the body text be different than the text in the equations or will that look bad? Or can you stay in the same family? For example, could I have Minion body with Times New Roman as the equation text?

- There is a "symbol" font in Windows, is this equivalent to anything in Latex?

- It is going to be quite challenging to sync everything up in MathType and Latex. I think I need to pick just one and go all the way through with it. Latex will be a lot more time consuming, but may yield a better result. But how do I do all the little format adjustments (i.e. subscript offset, matrix column spacing, etc.).

[Montag]

- Can the body text be different than the text in the equations or will that look bad? Or can you stay in the same family? For example, could I have Minion body with Times New Roman as the equation text?

Yes, it "can".
So I think you "can" have a Minion body and TNR for the equations.
If it looks bad is up to the reader, of course. But in terms of a good approach with some professional finesse ... do not mix Minion with TNR (or its clones), please. Not than I'm a professional in the field typegraphy, but I'm sure many would agree with my personal opinion.
Rather follow frabjous' advice or your designer's.

The thing is, you should be honest about the impression one gathers when trying out stuff ... as in: on the computer. Which is a different impression when comparing to its printout. So print a couple of pages and then have a good look at it (if you haven't already).

- There is a "symbol" font in Windows, is this equivalent to anything in Latex?

I'd say yes, a good look at the file "symbols-a4.pdf" is recommendable. It's called "The Comprehensive LaTeX Symbol List".

[meho_r]

...

- Can the body text be different than the text in the equations or will that look bad? Or can you stay in the same family? For example, could I have Minion body with Times New Roman as the equation text?
...

Though it can be done, it is probably a very bad idea. You really should avoid mixing two serif typefaces within normal text, rather use serif for text, and sans serif for math, titles, quotes and other logically separated units. Minion and TNR together will most certainly make your doc look unprofessional.