[scribus] Fwd: Re: Font subset question

[Bert Driehuis]

Dear Peter,

If I use "Subset all fonts", then the document passes validation on
pdf-online.com. That confirms that the selected font actually contains
broken glyphs. It also confirms that pdf-online.com's claim of
non-compliance refers to the font and not the generated document. I
tried Arial (which is no stranger to validation problems).

As I said, I do not bother with PDF/1a (which is a subset op PDF 1.3),
but directly export to PDF 1.3, so that I can use font outlining. That
way I'm assured that the PDF viewer renders the font the same way the
printing house does.

Open a font (almost any font) with FontForge and be amazed at how many
errors lurk in fonts.


With kind regards,

Bert

On Thu, Sep 21, 2017 at 3:40 PM, benedek <benedek_peter at upcmail.hu> wrote:
> Thanks Bert
>
> I have Linux Mint 18.3 and Scribus 1.5.4.
>
> Please try it:
>
> -- Open new document
> -- Insert TextBox
> -- Insert some chars in TextBox
> -- F2 - Text Properties - Linux Libertine O or Linux Libertine G or Arial or
> Times New Roman or Roboto etc.
> -- File menu - Export - Save As PDF
> -- Fonts tab - Fonts to embed: There is selected font.
> -- General tab - Compatibility: PDF/X-1a
> -- Save
>
> You upload the PDF file the https://www.pdf-online.com/osa/validate.aspx.
> The result is incorrect.
> This seems a problem. The print house didn't know use this.
>
> If all fonts in the document is Subset (Subset all), the result of the test:
> "Document validated successfully". I did not dare try the printed. :-(
>
> The print house asked: "Can you give vector document?", but PDF/X1-A (and
> PDF/X-3 and 4) export  does not support the "Outline all fonts" function, so
> I could not give it, I sent the document in tiff format. :-( .
>
>
> You said it: "I actually use PDF 1.3 for most stuff. I send to a
> professional printer, and I usually outline all fonts."
>
> How do you do this?
>
> regards
>
> Peter
>
>
>
> 2017-09-21 13:08 keltezéssel, Bert Driehuis írta:
>
> Dear Benedek,
>
> I made the PDF/X-1a and this is included embedded fonts. The print house
> told, some font not visible or instead of visible a wrong character.
> I checked the PDF document a online PDF validator
> (https://www.pdf-online.com/osa/validate.aspx), and it is told:
>
> File    Dokumentum-2.pdf
> Compliance    pdf1.3
> Result    Document does not conform to PDF/A.
> Details
>
> Validating file "Dokumentum-2.pdf" for conformance level pdf1.3
> The glyph for character 96 in font 'AxeHandel' is missing.
> The glyph for character 221 in font 'AxeHandel' is missing.
> The document does not conform to the requested standard.
> The document contains fonts without embedded font programs or encoding
> information (CMAPs).
> The document does not conform to the PDF 1.3 standard.
> Done.
>
> Apparently, the font AxeHandel is missing two glyphs. Scribus does not
> appear to check the correctness of the font, but the validator does.
> The validator does not make clear why it thinks the document is not
> valid PDF/A, and as others have mentioned, the spec is ambiguous in
> places.
>
> There are many fonts with errors, even commercial fonts from large
> font publishers can have the occasional error. Sometimes you can fix
> the error with FontForge, but that is a very specialised tool that is
> not recommended for casual use.
>
> When you convert the font to outlines, the problematic code from the
> fonts is removed so the external validator can no longer see font
> errors. That will effectively paper over any error: if the PDF looks
> okay to you, it will print okay. I actually use PDF 1.3 for most stuff
> I send to a professional printer, and I usually outline all fonts.
>
> I have downloaded Axe Handle from DaFont
> (http://www.dafont.com/axehandel.font
> ) and got a font dated July 23rd,
> 2013. It does appear to have a valid glyph for the backtick character
> (96) and for Y acute (229), so maybe your problem goes away if you
> update your font (and in the case of Windows, restart your computer;
> for other OS'es restarting Scribus is usually enough to pick up
> changed fonts).
>
> As a side note, I do not recall you mentioning which version of
> Scribus you use. In Scribus 1.5.3, the font handling has seen a lot of
> changes that may (positively or negatively) impact your experience. If
> you're using 1.4.6 or older, you may want to try upgrading; if you're
> using 1.5.3, you may want to see if you can reproduce the problem with
> 1.4.6. Be aware that you can't use an older version of scribus to open
> newer documents, so if you try upgrading scribus, please work on a
> copy of your original document until you are sure you do not have to
> revert to the older release.
>
> With kind regards,
>
> Bert
>
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