Greek font?

Question

Level 1

42 points

Greek font?

Is there a 'best' Font program to use to import fonts? I was surprised that Pages didn't include a Greek font, which I need. Anybody know where there's a safe place to download one?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Dec 4, 2008 4:01 PM

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Answer 1

Dec 4, 2008 4:26 PM in response to amember

Is there a 'best' Font program to use to import fonts?

As a rule, stay away from font programs. The operating system has Font Book that audits the file structure of the intelligent font model (TrueType and OpenType), and arranges fonts in folders.

I was surprised that Pages didn't include a Greek font,

Pages is a client of the operating system which comes with Greek in Linotype Times. To see which intelligent fonts include Greek, open the Character Palette, select View: All Characters, select European Scripts: Greek, click any character, drop down the Font Variation dialogue, and the system shows you the intelligent fonts installed in the system that are able to image the character you chose. Note that this is intended to work with the intelligent font model, not with the obsolete Adobe PostScript font program dictionary model.

/hh

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Answer 2

amember Author

Level 1

42 points

Dec 4, 2008 6:23 PM in response to amember

I appreciate your trying to help me, but nothing showed up in European Scripts. I found ‘Greek and Copic’ under Unicode but none of the 15 characters looked usable. I need to type paragraphs in Greek and I wouldn't look forward to searching through a Code to get one character at a time. Is there a Greek Font somewhere on the iMac or do I have to purchase it from Linotype ($24.99)?

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Answer 3

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

120,470 points

Dec 4, 2008 6:48 PM in response to amember

I need to type paragraphs in Greek and I wouldn't look forward to searching through a Code to get one character at a time.

Go to system prefs/international/input menu and check the box for Greek, plus the box for "show input menu in Finder." Plus the box for Keyboard Viewer. Then select Greek in the "flag" menu at the top right of the Finder and start typing. Use Keyboard Viewer to see which key does what.

OS X comes with fonts for Greek already, there is no need to download anything. Lucida Grande is the default and probably Arial, Helvetica, Tahoma, Times will have it as well.

For more info and other fonts see:

http://homepage.mac.com/thgewecke/TypingGreek.html

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Answer 4

KOENIG Yvan

Level 8

41,819 points

Dec 5, 2008 2:38 AM in response to amember

amember wrote:
I was getting somewhere until....I couldn't find "show input menu in Finder". Also, I couldn't find a box for Keyboard Viewer or a flag menu....what am I doing wrong?

Applying what Tom Wrote:

Go to system prefs/international/input menu and check the box for Greek, plus the box for "show input menu in Finder."

I got:

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE vendredi 5 décembre 2008 11:38:17)

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Answer 5

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

120,470 points

Dec 5, 2008 7:17 AM in response to amember

I checkmarked "Greek" and "Show input menu in menu bar" (not 'in Finder", there's no option for that) and when I go to my Pages document, Greek isn't in the Font menu.

You need to select Greek in the "flag" menu in the Finder (NOT in the Font menu of an app). Do you still not have that? After you have the Greek flag at the top right of the Finder, all you need to do is type. A Greek font will be used automatically.

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Answer 6

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

120,470 points

Dec 5, 2008 7:33 AM in response to amember

You said...."+You need to select Greek in the "flag" menu in the Finder+". I don't see a flag menu anywhere in Finder. Where is it supposed to be?

The flag menu appears if you have checked the box called "show input menu in Finder" in system prefs/international/input menu, which I think you did.

It should appear at the top right, just between the airport symbol and the speaker symbol, to the left of the date/time and spotlight. Is your menu bar full of stuff? Then you could remove the date/time item and see if the flag shows up.

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Answer 7

amember Author

Level 1

42 points

Dec 5, 2008 7:58 AM in response to amember

You said....+It should appear at the top right, just between the airport symbol and the speaker symbol, to the left of the date/time and spotlight+.

I don't see a Flag menu (in my document in Pages) anywhere. I do see a Font menu, where I'd expect Greek would be added, but it's not. I also don't see an airport symbol or speaker symbol, or date/time or spotlight. Am I looking for the Flag menu in the wrong application?

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Answer 8

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

120,470 points

Dec 5, 2008 8:08 AM in response to amember

I don't see a Flag menu (in my document in Pages) anywhere. I do see a Font menu, where I'd expect Greek would be added, but it's not.

It really has nothing to do with Pages. All these things, airport, speaker, flag, date/time, spotlight are in the menu bar at the top right of your screen, even when you have no app running at all. Do you really not see them there?

On a modern computer you do not change languages by changing fonts, you change the keyboard layout. The keyboard layout will be used for all apps, and a font with the right characters will normally be used automatically without you having to select one.

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Answer 9

amember Author

Level 1

42 points

Dec 5, 2008 8:17 AM in response to amember

Oh goodness....yes, the flag is there, and when I click on it, I can choose Greek. I'm sorry my gross ignorance is showing. I'm not familiar with how things are done today, or on the iMac, I've been using a PC with Word Perfect for the last 20 years. I bought my new iMac one week ago.

Unfortunately, the best way to answer my question is to assume I know ' nothing', such as when you say 'top right', say 'top right of the computer screen', or I go looking at the top right of whatever screen I'm on, or of the Pages screen. Baby steps is all that works for me right now, but I promise, with your patience, I'll get better at this!

May I impose one additional question? Do you know if I can find a keyboard character layout for this Greek font so I'm typing the right keys for the characters I need? I'm sure this has changed since I used the Greek font in the past, or this particular Greek program has it's own keyboard character layout. Again, thank you for your patience, you have at long last gotten the information I needed into my head, and I am most appreciative!

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Answer 10

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

120,470 points

Dec 5, 2008 8:24 AM in response to amember

Do you know if I can find a keyboard character layout for this Greek font so I'm typing the right keys for the characters I need?

The layout does not depend on the font. It is determined by other software.

Earlier it was suggested that you check the box for Keyboard Viewer in system prefs/international/input menu. If you did that, you will find Keyboard Viewer in the "flag" menu. If you select that while the Greek flag is showing, a virtual keyboard will appear on your screen showing which key does what.

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Answer 11

amember Author

Level 1

42 points

Dec 5, 2008 8:47 AM in response to amember

The character pallete didn't show the layout for the Greek characters on my keyboard, but by just typing the various 'English' letters, I can soon know which ones give the characters in Greek that I need. For example, when I type "u" I get the Greek character for the "th" I need in Greek, which is "θ", the first character in the word "God", which looks like this, "θεος" (theos) in small letters.

I'll now mark the question as answered and +thank you+ once more for your patience and good instruction in helping me!

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Answer 12

KOENIG Yvan

Level 8

41,819 points

Dec 5, 2008 9:18 AM in response to amember

amember wrote:
The character pallete didn't show the layout for the Greek characters on my keyboard,

Tom took time to write:

Earlier it was suggested that you check the box for _Keyboard Viewer_ in system prefs/international/input menu. If you did that, you will find _Keyboard Viewer_ in the "flag" menu. If you select that while the Greek flag is showing, a _virtual keyboard_ will appear on your screen showing which key does what.

Is it so difficult to take care of what he wrote ?

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE vendredi 5 décembre 2008 18:18:00)

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Answer 13

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

120,470 points

Dec 5, 2008 9:59 AM in response to amember

The character pallete didn't show the layout for the Greek characters on my keyboard

Nobody asked you to use the Character Palette. I am curious why you cannot use the Keyboard Viewer as was suggested. Could you not find it and check its box in system prefs/international/input menu? Make sure you scroll all the way down the list to the very end. If your list really has no Keyboard Viewer on it, then there is something wrong with your system, but I have never heard of a case where Character Palette was present but Keyboard Viewer was missing.

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Answer 14

amember Author

Level 1

42 points

Dec 5, 2008 10:32 AM in response to amember

This is the first time I've been able to see "Keyboard Viewer" in the input menu. It appears before the Font list and after one other thing....Japanese Kana Pallete. When I looked for it before, there were three languages in that space, but I didn't see keyboard viewer there. Which is not to say it wasn't there before, but I didn't spot it. Thank you for clarifying this also for me.

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Answer 15

amember Author

Level 1

42 points

Dec 4, 2008 9:00 PM in response to amember

I was getting somewhere until....I couldn't find "show input menu in Finder". Also, I couldn't find a box for Keyboard Viewer or a flag menu....what am I doing wrong?

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