[OS X TeX] comprehensive font families and abbreviation?

[Duke]

On 12/28/08 6:25 PM, cfrees at imapmail.org wrote:
> On Sun 28th Dec, 2008 at 17:28, Duke seems to have written:

Ha ha, I like this header of yours! "Seems to have written", why? Isnt 
that I wrote it?
>
>> Hi folks,
>>
>> I want to change font properties for just a single sentence (or 
>> paragraph), and after googling I came up with
>>
>> {\fontfamily{FONTNAMEABBR}\selectfont
>> The quick brown fox jumps over the sleazy dog.
>> }
>>
>> where FONTNAMEABBR is the abbreviation of the font family that I want 
>> to use, for example, cmr for Computer Modern Roman, phv for Helvetica 
>> etc. I have two questions:
>>
>> 1. Where can I find a comprehensive list of font families together 
>> with samples AND abbreviations? I found the following list with nice 
>> sample
>>
>> http://www.tug.dk/FontCatalogue/allfonts.html
>>
>> but I dont know how I can use these fonts because there is nothing 
>> about their abbreviations.
>
> As far as I know, there is no single, comprehensive source of this
> information. (If you discover one, please let me know. :)
>
> Many fonts - those which have standard abbreviations - are listed in
> fontname. See
> /usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf-dist/doc/fontname/fontname.pdf for an
> overview and the other files in
> /usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf-dist/doc/fontname/ for alternative
> formats etc. You can also look at the map files for fontname in
> /usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf-dist/fonts/map/fontname/.
>
> These won't include samples, of course. You will have to find those
> elsewhere.

Unfortunately, it seems like you are correct. I did a lot of search and 
found nothing.
>
> Not all fonts use the fontname scheme so this won't cover all the
> possibilities. If you know the font you want and it provides a LaTeX
> package file, you should find the family name in that. You can also
> discover it by simply listing the relevant LaTeX directory contents if
> it provides font definition files.
>
> Consider /usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf-dist/tex/latex/antp/, for
> example. This directory contains a package file (antp.sty) which
> reveals the family as "antp". You could also glean this from the font
> definition files (ot4antp.fd and qxantp.fd) which are _usually_ named
> as (abbreviated encoding) + (family name/abbreviation) + (.fd).
>
> In some cases, the documentation may also tell you but not always as it
> may assume you will enable the font by loading the package provided and
> thus hiding the underlying font selection commands.
>

Should it be consistent with the system fonts as well? Even in the case 
you load it, if your mac system does not have that font, will it show 
the font?
>> 2. How do I know the font I want to use is already installed in my 
>> system and that I can use it?
>>
>> FYI, I use 10.5.6 with MacTex 2008 (full package).
>
> (1) Try it.
> or (2) Search locally for it (if you know a relevantly named file).
> or (3) Use tlmgr to show information (if you know the name of the
> package).
> or (4) Search CTAN for it and see if it is listed as included in TeX
> Live.
> or (5) Look on the TeX on Mac OS X wiki:
> http://mactex-wiki.tug.org/wiki/index.php?title=Typefaces. I'd like
> this to include at least what's in TL and available on CTAN, together
> with samples. It falls far short of that right now - especially on the
> samples front. (Hint, hint: LaTeXiT seems to be the best option for
> producing samples.) There are links to additional sources of
> information here, too, including samples. The Font Tools page lists
> some utilities for making your own.
>
> Note that LaTeX support and the fonts themselves are not always
> packaged together. In the case of commercial fonts for which free
> support packages are available, this is obvious. But it is true in
> other cases as well.
>
> If you know which font you want to use, somebody will likely be able to
> tell you the answers more easily than anybody can provide instructions
> for finding the answers, I'm afraid.

Agreed. I was able to find the necessary information for the font I want 
to use, but obviously I can not give the detail instructions like you or 
Peter. I know I am just a "so-so" Texer :).

Thanks,

D.