Has anyone ever heard of SPHAND or SPTIME fonts?  I have a client that
wants these fonts for his website and I don't know where to find them.
 Please help.

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Request for Question Clarification by mathtalk-ga on 23 May 2003 21:03 PDT

Hi, kylerose-ga:

It might help to clarify things if you describe the nature of the
website.  I have an idea what SP might stand for, but if you explained
the ambiance of your client's pages, I'd feel a lot more comfortable
in proposing an answer.

regards, mathtalk-ga

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Clarification of Question by kylerose-ga on 24 May 2003 22:34 PDT

The sites are for a custom home builder and new home sales.  I hope that helps.
-kyle

I believe they're fonts that come with an architectural design
software application called SoftPlan. Here's a page with references to
the fonts (see under "Text Styles"):

http://www.cadbuild.com.au/style.html

Note that it says that "Fonts in upper case are the standard as
supplied by SoftPlan" and SPHAND & SPTIME appear in the list.

Here's the main product site for SoftPlan:

http://www.softplan.com/lpsoftplan.htm

Cheers,

Eadfrith

Hi,
    If your client wants those fonts, you should use them as images
for logos, etc... otherwise very few people will have those specific
fonts intalled to view the website as intended. For text, it is highly
recommended that you use common fonts like Times New Roman, Arial,
Verdana, etc. Plus, whichever font you choose, you should always
define a generic font-family such as sans-serif, serif, cursive, etc.
(I hope you're using CSS and not <FONT>)
   Cheers! :)

Hi, kyle:

Thanks for your clarification.  Eadfrith-ga and ironcito-ga have made
excellent comments here.  If your client wishes to incoporate SoftPlan
custom design drawings in their site, the best approach would be to
treat them as discrete graphic images, e.g. as JPEGs.

The designation "HAND" for a font should mean a manuscript or
"hand-written" appearance.  Of the common fonts on a Windows/IE
browser, you might compare Comic Sans MS (where the MS means
manuscript, not Microsoft!).

The designation "TIME" is less specific but probably means a font
based on the classic Times font developed for the London Times back in
the 1930's.  With some effort you can try to approximate the
appearance of the fonts your client wants to use with some that are
more widely available on users' browsers.

The biggest hurdle is perhaps explaining to your client that a user
can only see "text" in a font available on their own machine, so that
"using" it on a Web page is problematic.  It appears that SoftPlan
themselves have settled on using Macromedia's Flash "graphics" as a
mechanism to display their product.

regards, mathtalk-ga

Thanks for your help.  Especially eadfrith-ga.  I should have
clarified the use of the font on the webpage (I appologize).  I am
very familiar with the font restrictions on most browser.  The client
only wants the font used on his logo (jpg/gif).

Although I haven't spoken with him yet, I am betting that he used his
Soft Plan architectural software to design his orginal logo.  Thanks
again.
-kyle