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In article <1992Nov18.045514.4005@oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu> 
carlip@oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu (Walter C3arlip) writes:

>... As I understand it, a given style of type will
>have a different design depending upon the point size it is to be printed
>at, e.g., Times Roman at 12pt will have lines that are wider and darker
>relative to the hight of the letter than Times Roman at 20pt.

In the good old days of cold lead type (and maybe hot lead type, I don't know)
this was true.  A 'font' consisted of a certain typeface at a certain size,
so a different mold or type slug was used for each different size.
This in turn allowed the design to be varied among sizes in the way you 
describe.

When the industry switched to phototypesetters, this variation was lost.
The 'font' was then a collection of transparent masks at a single size, and
optics scaled the mask linearly to the desired size.

PostScript technology preserved this linear scaling.  The glyph outline
is described in bezier curves, and the PostScript interpreter scales the
outline linearly to the desired size.  Therefore, most PostScript typefaces
have a single design which is used for all sizes.

I say *most*, because Multiple Master font technology returns the 
flexibility type designers had with hot lead.  A Multiple Master typeface
contains two or more 'master designs', and you can create 'font instances'
which are a mixture of the two master designs.  If the designers choose,
they can make masters with two different 'design sizes'.  Adobe's Minion
Multiple Master typeface contains masters with optical sizes ranging from
(I think) 6 points to 72 points.

I don't claim to be Adobe's expert on type, but the above is a rough
explanation, and may show why you got two opposite answers to your question.

To give a practical answer to your practical question, I'd say that 
printing at a larger size with lower resolution and then photo-reducing 
down has always worked pretty well for me.  But then, I'm an engineer, not
a designer.

>_____________________________________________________________________________
>Walter C3arlip				    **** carlip@ace.cs.ohiou.edu ****
>(the "3" is silent)			

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