LyX ⇒ How to have a font similar to Arial/Tahoma/Verdana

[mallo]

Hello,

I know that this question is quite common among windows user but I haven't found a simple answer yet.
My girlfriend is writing her master's thesis in Lyx and she must comply with the requirements:
- paper size A4
- left and right margin 2.5cm
- lines in a page about 26-30
- font similar to Arial or Tahoma or Verdana
- body font size 12

So I tried to make a template lyx file similar to mine latex one (see attachment).

The main problem is how to choose the correct font. I tried with some of them like:
%\usepackage{helvet}
%\usepackage{bera}
%\usepackage{arev}
%\usepackege{frutiger}

but I think the rendering both in GNU/Linux and windows are not correct since the generated PDF has horrible fonts.
I would like to know how to put a very good looking font similar to the above ones (Arial or Tahoma or Verdana) in a straightforward way.
For what I've understood if a package is not present the MiKTeX downloads it automatically. I tried some times ago with different packages but they are not present in MiKTeX repositories.

Thank you in advance to anybody who is willing to answer this question. I lost a lot of time trying to solve it searching in Google and I believe that there should be a really simple answer to having a good looking font rendering that appears similar to windows ones.


Bye,

Mauro

[frabjous]

What the fonts you mention seem to have in common is that they are sans serif fonts. It strikes me as crazy that a university would require body text in a sans serif font. Do these people not understand even the rudiments of typography? But be that as it may. You're stuck with these restrictions.

The packages you mention would typically set the sans font to one of those, but leave the default font as the roman family rather than the sans family as the default. Also be sure to set the font encoding to Type 1 to avoid pixelated/bitmapped fonts. Try something like:

Code: Select all

\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[scaled]{helvet}
\renewcommand*{\familydefault}{\sfdefault}

That should set everything in Helvetica (which is close enough to Arial for these purposes). (See here.)

If you would prefer Bitstream Vera Sans, then swap out "berasans" for "helvet". If you leave that line out, you'll get Computer Modern Sans, which is a fine typeface too. I'd start with helvet, though, since it's very unlikely you don't have that installed.

[meho_r]

..or, if I may suggest, you may try with winfonts or urw arial or nimbus sans or TeX Gyre Heros. I'm not sure about MikTeX, but on TeXLive I've got, e.g., TeX Gyre font installed through TeXLive package manager. Others may be installed manually, but it's pretty easy to do so, just follow the instructions from README files.

[ChemistKatie]

What the fonts you mention seem to have in common is that they are sans serif fonts. It strikes me as crazy that a university would require body text in a sans serif font. Do these people not understand even the rudiments of typography? But be that as it may. You're stuck with these restrictions.

Sorry but I had to reply to this bit. All Universities are now making the set thesis layout to be in a sans serif font and not justified. It is meant to make it easier for dyslexic people to read (although a coule of my friends who are dyslexic say it doesn't help at all!). I am very disppointed as I think it does not look as nice. I am submitting my thesis in the next 18 months, ariel font and all.

[frabjous]

All universities? I don't think so. I'm a professor who teaches at a graduate university. Our guidelines here are very open. They read:

The font must be easy to read when it has
been digitized: specifically, choose a font that has
true descenders, such as Times Roman, Helvetica,
or Courier. Most standard fonts are acceptable.

And while I do appreciate that there are people with certain reading disabilities who do better with sans serif fonts, I also know of people who do better with serif fonts. (I have a dyslexic friend who converts everything to Times before reading it.) From what I gather, the research on this is controversial and mixed.

But be that as it may, since most theses are submitted electronically these days, and distributed that way too, there shouldn't be a need to force anyone to use an ugly base format, when it could be converted for those who need it to be.

But it's not really up to us, so the discussion is all academic. But at least use Helvetica rather than Arial for your thesis. (Read the link I posted above about the Scourge of Arial.)

[mallo]

Thank to everybody for the suggestions.
Some time ago I tried to use helvetica with the standard family setting and it worked pretty good.

In this forum I always find accurate and simply solution to my problems.
Thanks,

Mauro

[localghost]

[…] In this forum I always find accurate and simply solution to my problems. […]

The term »always« might be misplaced here regarding the fact that there has been only a single request yet.

Now that the problem is solved, please be so kind and mark the topic accordingly as clearly written in Section 3 of the Board Rules (to be read before posting). Please keep that in mind for the future so that further reminders will not be necessary.


Best regards and welcome to the board
Thorsten