Document Classes ⇒ Optimal San Serif Fonts for PDF creation

[ghujighujo]

Hi there,

1.
I am restricted to San Serif fonts in my thesis. So, I'm looking for an optimal solution for using San Serif with pdflatex.
Currently, I'm using the following constellation (shortened for the sake of clarity. In case you need more info, I attached the package inclusions to this post):

Code: Select all

\usepackage[T1]{fontenc} % define San Serif fonts
\usepackage{lmodern} % define San Serif fonts II
\renewcommand{\familydefault}{\sfdefault} % set San Serif as standard
\usepackage {sectsty}% set San Serif for headings
\usepackage [hang]{caption} % formate figure and table headings
\renewcommand\captionfont {\small\sffamily\itshape} % formate figure and table headings II
\renewcommand\captionlabelfont{\small\sffamily\itshape\bfseries} % formate figure and table headings III
\usepackage{wasysym} % symbol for diameter
\let\iint\relax % use iint from amsmath instead
\let\iiint\relax % use iiint from amsmath instead
\usepackage{amssymb,amsmath,amsthm,amsfonts} % math stuff

I found already cmbright and txfonts as alternatives, but not sure if and why they are better than my current set-up.
Right now I am using pdfeTeX 3.141592-1.21a-2.2 and kpdf 0.5.1 in GNU/linux.

2.
I will have to print the document at a local copy shop, so I wonder if it makes a difference if I compile, view or print my thesis from within another software environment (Mac OS X, WinXP) and how can I tackle this?

Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge,
Ghuji

[localghost]

The most important information is missing, the used document class. With cmbright you have chosen a good sans serif font. Wherever you print your resulting document, there should be no problems as long as the fonts are embedded in the final output. For the caption setup you should take a look at the documentation of the caption package.


Best regards and welcome to the board
Thorsten¹

[ghujighujo]

Thanks for your recommendations. Here the missing information:

\documentclass[a4paper]{book}

I have one more question: What exactly are the differences between OT1, T1 and TS1 encoded text fonts?

Cheers,
Ghuji

[localghost]

[…] I have one more question: What exactly are the differences between OT1, T1 and TS1 encoded text fonts? […]

• OT1: The original encoding of the TeX fonts by Donald E. Knuth. It has only 128 positions and so doesn't contain many characters required for European languages. Problems occur in hyphenation.
• T1: The modern encoding for text fonts, also called Cork Encoding. Has 256 positions and is capable to handle more than thirty European languages (without accents).
• TS1: Encoding for the Textcompanion fonts, provided by the textcomp package.

[Stefan Kottwitz]

Hi Ghuji,

welcome to the board!
Perhaps have a look at those pages of the UK TeX FAQ:

• What are encodings
• What are the EC fonts (Cork encoding, T1)

There you could find some information regarding those encodings, Thorsten has already provided a good summary.

Stefan