Re: Symbols in email, downloads

[Robert Lauriston <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com>]

For PDF, if you check the Adobe PDF job option "Embed all fonts," the
characters will appear and print correctly on any computer. Set subset
to 100% to minimize file size.

For .chm, MIF2Go has a special-character routine you can use to deal
with FrameMaker's special-character limitations. See online help
section 20.5.5, "Mapping individual special characters." If the app
runs only on relatively modern versions of Windows, maybe you could
use the omega from Arial or Times New Roman (Alt-234)? I think that's
from one of the standard fonts. If not, I believe you can configure
MIF2Go to substitute a bitmap.

On Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 8:08 AM, Nancy Allison<maker -at- verizon -dot- net> wrote:
> Hi, everyone. I no longer have questions about how to create special characters and get them to show in my PDF and .chm files. On my computer, here in my office, I get the desired results.
>
> My new question is this: How can I be sure that my audience will see the characters correctly?
>
> Technical details: My source document, created  with Framemaker 7.1 on XP with SP3 contains a mu, Omega, and degree symbol.
>
> The mu and the degree are ALT-#### symbols created with the regular character set (like in Arial or Times Roman), so I'm assuming they're stable.
>
> The Omega was created by applying the Symbol font to the capital W. Frame 7.1 doesn't handle Unicode symbols.
>
> I have now created a PDF (I included all fonts) and a .chm (using Mif2go, if it matters) that correctly display the symbols on my monitor.
>
> What happens once these files are downloaded from the web site, or emailed from one person to another? Can I assume that the symbols will still appear correctly? Are they now hard-coded into the files? Or, will some users see capital Ws or capital Os where the Omega should be, or blanks where the degrees should be?
>
> Is there any way to assure that these symbols will now appear correctly on others' systems? If I have to include a note explaining what fonts, browser, operating system, etc., etc., my readers need, I'll do it. Would that be enough to assure that the symbols will appear correctly?
>
> My technical people are insisting that we use the symbols, and not spell out the word "Omega" or use "u" for mu, or "deg." for degree. So, I have to get this right. All help gratefully received.
>
> --Nancy
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Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help  
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/

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