Need to 'vertically condense' truetype font rows for use on a PocketPC device

May 11, 2008 10:17 AM

Help me reduce the gap height of a truetype font so that I can deploy and use it on a PocketPC to increase the amount of text on the Today screen and on pages in Mobipocket.

What is the easiest way to modify the gap line of all characters in a truetype font and save out a copy? In the event I'm not using the correct terminology, what I'd like to do is edit an existing font so that there is less space between rows of text (== vertically compress it, for the same effect as the line-height CSS function). I don't wish to distribute the font in any way, but would like to use it on my PocketPC so that I can get more text on my Today screen and also in ebooks that I read. I have Windows. Freeware suggestions preferable. For the record, I'd like to reduce the Nina font and maybe work on the other common ones like Arial and/or Tahoma.

posted by tra to Computers & Internet (2 answers total)

I don't know how to do what you want, but it might help you to know that you're trying to reduce the leading (say ledd-ing) of the type. It's usually not a function of the font, it's set by whatever is rendering the text.
posted by bonaldi at 11:22 AM on May 11, 2008

Response by poster: Cheers bonaldi. Yes, that's what I meant. I'm pretty sure that it's built-into the font simply because in the same program (eg a rich text editor, or my Miranda IM contact list) some TT fonts have less of a gap between rows than others. An example is Myriad Web Pro versus something like Arial. But hey! I just found "Myriad Web Pro Condensed" and tested it out and it looks like what I was trying to achieve with Nina..

Still looking for an answer for other fonts (the more text I can cram onto a 240x320 screen the better), but this new font I found looks like it'll take the edge off..
posted by tra at 1:33 PM on May 11, 2008