Using fonts from the LaTeX Font Catalogue.

[Boris Veytsman]

PT> From: Philip Taylor <P.Taylor at Hellenic-Institute.Uk>
PT> Date: Tue, 4 May 2021 12:38:52 +0100



PT> My "problem" is with the idea that each font should require a separate 
PT> package before it can be used.

[...]

>> 
PT> I regard TeX as a never-ending search for excellence.

I think excellence and simplicity are often contradictory aims.  Fonts
provide a good illustration to this thesis.

There is *nothing* simple in the excellent use of fonts, either in the
traditional typesetting or in the digital one.  Changing fonts is not,
as you write in other messages "as simple as changing a color" (to
tell the truth, the correct use of colors is not simple either).  A
font must be harmonized with other fonts in the document and the
document itself.  When you select a font, you should think about the
other features of the typesetting: baseline distances, paragraphing,
page dimensions, folios, headings & footers, section titles and many
other things.  If you have math or tables, your problems multiply, but
even for a restaurant menu you should be careful lest your work looks
like a ransom note.  In the ideal world a font family should be
accompanied by a package that takes care at least of some of these
things, and be used only through its interface.  Of course a
knowledgeable designer may override the decisions of the package
authors.  For such a person the corresponding TeX commands would be
the least of their troubles.

In the old days of metal type the standard advice to a beginner was,
"Do not try to use all sorts from all the type cases in this room for
your first book.  Take one typeface, learn it inside and out, get a
feeling for it - and only then try another one".

Let us not try to emulate the other systems, which never looked for
excellence.  

-- 
Good luck

-Boris

Modesty:
	The gentle art of enhancing your charm by pretending not to be
	aware of it.
		-- Oliver Herford