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Output Devices and WYSIWYG
Output devices are the units we connect to computers to retrieve information from them. The most common types of output devices are monitors (video screens) and printers.
When we think of fonts, we primarily think of the computer screen and then the printer. The reason for this may be that we compose text on the screen and expect the printed output to resemble the displayed text. Most modern operating systems and word processors almost always achieve this for us. This service or feature is known as 'What you see is what you get', abbreviated as WYSIWYG (pronounced as 'vizivig').
Although both printers and screens create output by composing points, they are quite different types of devices. Printers typically produce output on white backgrounds (paper), while screens have black backgrounds. Consequently, they use different color models - CMYK for printers and RGB for screens. Additionally, computers need to handle different resolutions, which are measured in dots per inch (dpi).
To achieve WYSIWYG, the computer needs to compose the page differently when printing, according to the specifications of the printer, preferably sending the page as a bitmap or picture. Another, older method is to send the text along with 'formatting instructions' in the printer's language and let the printer compose and print the page. To enable this, even for plain English text, the printer should have the corresponding fonts available. Sometimes, computers send the necessary fonts to the printer before the text to be printed.
Fonts and Printers
From the perspective of printers we can classify fonts as either a) resident fonts or b) downloadable fonts.
Resident (internal) fonts are those fonts that are embedded (i.e., pre-loaded) in printers' read-only memory. High-end printers used to support font cartridges. When we use these resident or cartridge fonts to print text, we don't have to send the font from the computer to the printer, and printing is relatively fast. For volume printing, people generally preferred resident or cartridge fonts.
Downloadable fonts are those fonts that are copied (downloaded) from computers to printers for use in subsequent printing.
What are Soft Fonts?
The downloadable fonts are also called 'soft fonts.' (Please note the space between 'soft' and 'fonts.') As Hewlett-Packard's PCL is a very popular 'printer control language', most of the 'soft fonts' are 'HP PCL soft fonts.'
In the case of printers that do not support 'soft fonts', computers send text as bitmaps/pictures.
Nowadays, OpenType (enhanced TrueType) or AAT is being preferred for complex scripts. OpenType (and AAT) demand advanced rendering services (for rich typography) that are not available in printers!
So, in our opinion, it is practically impossible to create a useful soft font for a complex script.
softfonts.com
We selected the name 'softfonts.com' because it was the shortest relevant name that was available. [We are in the business of developing 'small software' and 'Unicode fonts']. It is very challenging these days to obtain a suitable domain name.
We do not sell what people refer to as 'soft fonts'.
The first font that our director designed (between 1991 and 1993) was a 'PCL soft font.' He wrote a basic bitmap font editor in the 'C' programming language for it!
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