dynamic/system text leading

[spoonyg]

im setting up some dynamic text (verdana) and i notice that to really see
how the type rags and how many lines ive got i need to publish.
(im on a mac too)

my question:
does the leading (line spacing) in dynamic text on a pc differ from a mac?
it seems my copy is running longer on the pc?

is there a way to see an exact representation of the text in flash without publishing?

[pixelwit]

I'm pretty sure the text should display the same on either Mac or PC *IF YOU INCLUDE THE FONT OUTLINES* in the movie when you publish it. You can go to View-Panels-TextOptions and check off the portions of the font you want to embed. If for example you will only be using numbers with a dollar sign you can check off the numbers box and then type in the "$" (without quotes) in the text box (next to embed fonts). Including only the parts of the font you will be using helps keep the final SWF file size to a minimum.

Hope this helps,

-PiXELWiT
http://www.pixelwit.com

[spoonyg]

thanks for the response pixelwit.

my first problem:
in flash i cant tell how the text is going to layout until i publish.
ive got an example for this:

this is what i see in flash:
http://www.confusement.com/textflash.html

this is what i get when the fla is published:
http://www.confusement.com/textswf.html

is there a setting that will help me see what the
text will look like when its published?
have you experienced this?

problem two:
i dont have an example to show for the leading pc vs. mac.
im at home (no pc here). whats happening:
i set up a fla with dynamic text.
and even though the text lines have the same breaks,
the text runs further down the page on the pc than the mac.
im thinking the text leading is greater on the pc.
this isnt a big problem because the end result will be scrolling text.
ive been setting up the layouts (without the scrolling text in place)
and just decided to fake it by covering up the offending text with
a white box in place where the text would start scrolling.

any insite or advice would be great.
thanks.

[pixelwit]

Are you using dynamic text?

Did you embed the entire font?

-PiXELWiT
http://www.pixelwit.com

[spoonyg]

thanks pixelwit. (sorry if this goes against the long explanation rule)

i think i should explain a little more what im working on. (i have been trying to figure out as much of this on my own as i can). my question has to do with flash and the way it acts or represents dynamic text in the fla -- before i publish a swf.

Our client has a corporate type face, news gothic. we initially figured that we would use news gothic in the site instead of system text for body copy -- everywhere we could. the site is going to have dynamically generated content (using a cms), something im pretty excited about, my job has been to build the front end. a partner company is doing the backend -- we are going to be using generator, xml, all that good dynamic stuff.

so, i started making files using news gothic embeded in the text boxes -- it is also going to scroll when the content extends beyond a specified area. this embedding is going fine, but the antialiasing isn't so good looking when the type is small and there is lots of it. so i made some side by side comparison using news gothic and verdana, i didnt embed the verdana because i thought i didnt need to considering it is a system font. i prefer the verdana (along with some other members of the team). here is a link to a comparison:
http://www.confusement.com/somtype.html

im planning on using verdana. i didnt think i needed to embed because its system text. is that wrong?

in flash i cant see how the verdana is going to look until i publish the swf.
that is where im having the problem. i guess its not crucial because in the end the cms will be filling the text boxes. its just difficult to tell how much space the text is going to take up without publishing.
before publishing:
http://www.confusement.com/textflash.html
after publishing:
http://www.confusement.com/textswf.html

have you noticed a visual difference in your dynamic text before you publish vs. after you publish.

sorry that was so long.
thanks.
dave

[pixelwit]

First off, my Verdana and your Verdana may not be exactly the same. As an ex-printer I can assure you there a plenty of different versions of the most common fonts families. Even if you get your final SWF to perfectly match what you see in the authoring environment I can almost guarantee it will look different on other peoples machines if you don't embed the font.

I'll say this a different way, If you want the text to display consistently (meaning pixel-perfect placement), across different platforms YOU MUST EMBED THE FONT.

It's a trade-off. You have to decide if you want consistency or crisp text. As of Flash5 you can't have both.

I'm not really sure why the text in your published SWF looks different from the text you see while in the authoring environment. I suppose when you're in the authoring environment Flash is in charge, but when you play the SWF without the embedded font Flash loses it's ability to fully control the font and that's why you see the inconsistencies. If you'd like to see an example of this, check-out the attached file.

Hope this helps,

-PiXELWiT
http://www.pixelwit.com

[spoonyg]

thanks for the advice pixelwit. that makes sense. i appreciate your help.

take it easy.
dave