NewDeal Hot Tip 1416
FontsDo you find the filenames too hard to read under the icons? You can adjust the size of the font in Preferences, Configure UI. But if that's not enough, just move or delete UNIVERSI.FNT from your FONT directory (renaming it won't do). This is the University font--the bitmap font that is used for the labels under file and folder icons. When this font is gone, NewDeal puts up all the file names in Berkeley (the system font normally used for all the title bars, menus, buttons, etc.) which is bigger and thicker and easier to read.
When I deleted Berkeley from my font directory, I found that the system takes it in stride and looks for another good font to use. You can choose what you want your system font to be, either by modifying the GEOS.INI (in the [system] and [motif] sections) or by keeping only certain fonts in your font folder.
I just renamed my FONT directory to OLDFONT, created a new directory called FONT and copied certain fonts into it. That way, when I'm finished playing, I can re-re-name OLDFONT to FONT and preserve my precious normal fonts. I've got University as my system font, and it looks pretty cool--like a SPARCstation. All buttons, menus and dialog boxes appear in this sturdy, but thin, font. Plus, if you move BISON.FNT (the font used by NewComm) out of your font directory, NewComm defaults to whatever the system font is. Since Bison is mono-width and your system font won't be, your NewComm screen ends up looking like a big ransom note.
The system first tries to use the font requested. If it's not available, then the system uses the default font.
You can use any font for the UI font. You must use a bitmap for the default font, because it needs to be in memory in case of an error (e.g. Abort/Retry). Here are the font ID numbers for the four bitmap fonts
Examine your GEOS.INI file to see if there are keys like these:
fonttool = 160218011204140316001a00100012001800 fontmenu = 160218011204140316001a00100012001800If you don't see the lines, then run Preferences, Fonts, and drag at least one font into the Toolbar or Menu area. Then exit GEOS and examine your GEOS.INI file again.
The keys determine which fonts appear in the font tool and the Font menu. The keys in the [system] section determine the fonts for all applications. If a similar key exists in the section for an individual application, it will override the system setting for that application.
The numbers are simply a list of the font ID numbers. 1602 is the Army font, for example. 1000 is URW Roman.
To enable the bitmap system fonts in your applications, all you need to do is add the font ID numbers for the bitmap fonts, like this:
fonttool = 02020a0002010600160218011204140316001a00100012001800 fontmenu = 02020a0002010600160218011204140316001a00100012001800There are limitations when using the bitmap fonts:
Last Modified 2 Mar 1999