PDF Font onscreen problems from InDesign file.

Hello all - I am running InDesign CS2 on Windows XP Pro Service Pack 2.

When creating a PDF through Export my fonts look horrible on screen - but print fine. However we are needing to create PDFs for the web....so I need the screen version looking nice too. The fonts aren't readable now.


I have tried printing the pdf through distiller and the fonts are perfect - EXCEPT where I have the font wrapping an image - that area of the font looks horrible.

I have tried different fonts - no luck. It was like this when using the CS2 trial and is the same now that we've bought the program. I am using Adobe opentype fonts, however have the same issue with truetype and type 1 as well.

Does anyone know how to rememdy this issue....we publish a magazine bi-monthly and in addition to bulk mail - we also put this on our site. So the we need our Pdfs to look nice. (We didn't have this problem when using Quark - but have switched over.)

Our printer said that he runs into this frequently with his clients...that he thought it has to do with the way Indesign traps fonts. - but is unaware if there is a way to manually set the font trapping in the program.

I hope someone can help!!

[annc]

Have you tried exporting using the Screen Preset? I'm using a Mac and CS, but I imagine it can't be too different under Windows and CS2.

yes. tried that and it gives me the yucky fonts on screen

[DTP Guy]

In addition to what Ann has said, your description of the fonts looking terrible when wrapping an image tells me that the fonts are being rasterised just there because of some transparency issues. I will wager that you are wrapping text around an image that has a clipping path.

I confess I don't fully understand transparency myself, but there is a fair bit about it in the Help Files.

[Mike]

I think it can also happen if, for example, you use ID to put drop shadows on images rather than creating the drop shadow in, say, Photoshop.

Correct. However I only have that particular problem if printing through Distiller - when exporting every font looks horrible. I do all of my transparancy and shadows etc in photoshop though - not indesign.

[roaryg]

DTP guy is right, fonts are being rasterized. Put your text on a layer above the images, and this should fix your font problem.

Wow - that's great! i tried that and it does seem to work when using the print command through distiller to get a pdf file.

However I am unable to get my bleed pages to "print" without a white border through this method. Any idea on that?

Also - when using the export function - the text is still crummy looking....even on it's own layer. Any idea why the two methods would be so different?

Thank you so much!

[roaryg]

Text on top layer has fixed this problem for me other times. Also, try moving the picture boxes away from the text, ie, pull the edge of the picture box as close to the graphic as you can, and move your text away from the picture box. Double-check that transparency is off where its not needed.

I can definatley work with this option if I can get PDFs with bleeds this way. Any idea why my bleed pages are printing with borders through this method?