I have a PowerPoint presentation that I need to be able to view on
various PCs.

I am creating it on a Mac.

The Font, kerning, and leading are critical to making sure it looks
correct.  Bitmapping the fonts is not an option, they have to stay
editable.

What fonts will look the same on both platforms?

Is there a better way to accomplish what I am trying to do?   


-Sherpa Jay

P.S.  Someone suggested embedding the fonts, but I was told that the
Mac ver of PowerPoint cannot do this.    Is this true?

Hello sherpaj,

Unfortunately, it is correct that the Macintosh version of Powerpoint
does not support font embedding. It also will not correctly read fonts
that were embedded using a Windows version of Powerpoint. This is true
for all versions of Powerpoint for Mac OS, up through Powerpoint X.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q185095
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00076.htm

There is no perfect solution here, but the best thing to do is to
stick with the basic core fonts which should be installed on most
computers and both operating systems. The four fonts most commonly
found on both Macs and Windows-based PCs are Times New Roman, Arial,
Helvetica, and Courier. Arial Black is another option and comes
installed with most Microsoft programs (including Powerpoint).

Here is a short list from Microsoft with some common font
substitutions:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q189963

You didn't mention if the target computers have Powerpoint installed
(since you could be planning to use a viewer instead) but, if they do,
you can check Microsoft's font lists page for lists of the fonts
installed with Powerpoint, as well as with other MS products and
operating systems.
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fonts/default.asp

Here's a brief article on optimizing your Macintosh Powerpoint
Presentation for Windows machines which mentions fonts, as well as a
few other things you may not have considered.
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/powerpointx/powerpointx_main.asp?embfpath=ttx&embfname=pp_crossplatformtip.asp

On the positive side, if your Macs are all running OS X, then "OS X
supports more than just Mac versions of Type 1, OpenType, and TrueType
fonts. It also supports Windows TrueType and OpenType fonts."
http://www.macworld.com/2001/06/20/osx-fonts.html

Search strategy:
powerpoint cross-platform
powerpoint fonts macintosh windows
I also searched the Microsoft Knowledge Database at www.microsoft.com.

I hope this helps to answer your question and wish you all the best
with your presentation.

inquisitive-ga

---

Clarification of Answer by inquisitive-ga on 14 Jul 2002 16:20 PDT

Hello again,

Another option, and I'm not sure if this will work for you since I
don't know all of the details, would be to create a PDF (Portable
Document Format) presentation that is truly cross-platform. Here are a
few links to get you started:

"Creating PDF Files for Training Presentations" from Presenters Online
http://www.presentersonline.com/training/pull_tog/tutorials/train_article_pdf.html

Five Main Ways to Create a PDF file - PDF Zone
http://www.pdfzone.com/resources/aboutacrobat1.html

Canvas8 is another great piece of software for creating custom
graphics and presentations and exports to PDF format (yes, it comes in
a Mac version):
http://www.deneba.com/community/howto/presentations/presentation.pdf

Hope this helps!

inquisitive-ga

Fonts with the same name should look similiar; but there are size
issues.  This should sum it up for you:

http://www.rfwilmut.clara.net/about/fonts.html