Why Doesn't Helvetica Render Properly in Windows?

[itlnstln]

Can anyone help me with this?  I would like to make some presentations using Helvetica, but it looks like garbage in Windows (kerning problems, etc).


Arial is not an option.


Neither is Comic Sans.

[Pylon]

Do you have Cleartype turned on?

[itlnstln]

Yes.

[neo]

Which application are you using to render it?

[itlnstln]

MS Word, Powepoint, etc.  It also looks messed up in Chrome and IE, especially set to bold.

[IvanIvanovich]

How does it look in verdana or tahoma?

[IvanIvanovich]

Thats why arial unicode is now my generic go to font. It works for almost everything. In the extremely rare case that it fails, verdana or tahoma usually work. Helvetica is just bad on Windows 7 in general it seems. Another one to try might be Zikketica.

[AlleyViper]

Maybe it's just a problem with your current Helvetica package? MS programs are awful with anything typography related, office 2010 doesn't even recognize ligatures for spell checking, let alone create them to properly use a font.
Try something standard as Helvetica Std or Helvetica Neue in the latest opentype package from adobe. While supporting Cleartype or not, remember that these aren't fonts designed for display use, so smaller heights won't always look good. Also mess with zoom settings to check it closer, sometimes it's not bad kerning, it's just the current pixel alignment messing up your viewport.

[quadibloc]

How about Bitstream Swiss 721, or TexGyre Heros? Unlike Arial, which is based on Monotype Grotesque, these typefaces actually do resemble Helvetica.

[csm725]

Helvetica in Win7/Vista IS problematic.

[AlleyViper]

Helvetica in Win7/Vista IS problematic.

I'm just trying to understand this statement. Provided by who, Linotype? It's not a common system font to blame, so the problematic version should be traced before generalizing.

[quadibloc]

I'm just trying to understand this statement. Provided by who, Linotype? It's not a common system font to blame, so the problematic version should be traced before generalizing.

It's true that Linotype is a reputable major supplier of typefaces.

There are threads on Typophile, though, about problems that took a long time to be fixed in an italic version of Helvetica from Linotype. For example: http://typophile.com/node/71858

The thing is that typefaces don't need to be hinted to work well at high resolution on a laser printer for printed copy. People buy expensive fonts to print with them, not to use them in routine display on the screen. Therefore, it isn't necessarily all that surprising if a high-quality typeface (for printing) doesn't include extensive hinting in order to display well at low screen resolutions. Normally, using antialiasing (ClearType in Windows) will deal with this.

[AlleyViper]

I was just trying to assert if the user knew exactly what he was using, because he had to get it somewhere. Let's say something dodgy or old grabbed on a free fonts site, an older TTF Linotype Roman, a something recent as later OT Std from Adobe that might have minor further adjustments. I just used Linotype as a random example.
This coupled with the way font rendering differs from program to program, not only at different sizes, but at zoom levels can sometimes be a major headache (not to mention different display panel technology vs sub-pixel). If the user tries to visualize that Powerpoint presentation in fullscreen, the problem might simply vanish.
The problem is the he's neither using programs made for publishing, or using a proper font designed as trouble free for screen use. But trying another provider for that font might solve the issue.

[itlnstln]

It's ItlnStln.  The odds of him paying for the font package are low.

That would be a safe bet.

[itlnstln]

Fixed: http://code.google.com/p/gdipp/.