Macintosh Font Installation Procedures prior to OSX

Use TrueType fonts on the Macintosh if possible.

Macintosh TrueType Installation (.mtt) (Use TrueType fonts on the Macintosh if possible.)

This TrueType font version is formatted for the Macintosh computer in MacBinary format. This encodes both resource and data forks into one file so it can be encoded in a ZIP file. Using this file on a MAC is a two step process:

1. Expand the ZIP file: After the distribution file (which is in ZIP format) is copied to a folder on the MAC, it must be expanded or decompressed so all the font files will be visible in the distribution package.
2. Decode the MacBinary font file: Within the distribution file, the individual font file to be used must be decoded and then copied into the system font folder. There are several MAC programs that can open ZIP files and decode MacBinary files such as the Stuffit Expander available from Aladdin Systems.

To install the TrueType font on the Macintosh:

1. If the Macintosh computer being used does not have an expander utility that can open ZIP files and decode MacBinary files, then download and install Stuffit Expand.
2. Open the ZIP distribution file that contains the fonts by dragging the ZIP file onto the Stuffit Expander icon. The font files will be extracted from the ZIP file to a subfolder of the main folder containing the ZIP file. Open this subfolder to view the MacBinary font files. At this point, view the documentation supplied with the font files. To do so just drag the Readme.htm file to the Netscape or Internet Explorer icon.
3. Decode the files from MacBinary format; drag the chosen font files that end with "mtt" to the Stuffit Expander icon.
4. Drag the decoded font files to the System folder.
5. To activate the fonts, restart the application - some applications may require a computer restart.
6. The font should now be active in the font menu of the application.
7. To create the correct output for the font, choose the font in the application and type in the corresponding letter.

Some Macintosh systems require ATM (Adobe Type Manager) to be installed before the PostScript Type 1 fonts can be installed and used. The ".mt1" file is the Type 1 printer font file and the ".bma" is the screen font file. These files are encoded in MacBinary format. MacBinary format encodes both resource and data forks into one file so it can be encoded in a ZIP file. The screen fonts created for Mac Type1 fonts are intended for use with the associated printer font and Adobe Type Manager. The characters are blank stubs, which are not used when there is also a printer font and the ATM rendering is on. Using these fonts on a MAC is a two step process:

1. Expand the ZIP file: After the distribution file (which is in ZIP format) is copied to a folder on the MAC, it must be expanded or decompressed so all the font files can be viewed in the distribution package.
2. Decode the MacBinary font file: Within the distribution file, the individual font file to be used must be decoded and then copied into the system font folder. There are several MAC programs that can open ZIP files and decode MacBinary files such as the Stuffit Expander available from Aladdin Systems.

See also:

• Unable to scan data printed with a bar code font
• Macintosh Font Installation Procedures for OSX

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