design problem: fonts and spacing

[SimPLsol at aol.com]

Charles,
     What you are doing would be much easier with a monospaced font. Courier 
is the only one distributed on all platforms and, yes, it IS ugly. It also 
prints a bit differently on different platforms and different printers.
     Bitstream Vera is an opensource, cross-platfrom typeface that has a 
monospaced font. Of course the problem there is that your users would have to 
install this font on their systems to use your software.
     I'd suggest closing your eyes and selecting Courier. I don't think any 
proportional font is worth the struggle; not only are the characters different 
sizes, the real problem is the spaces - which print differently on different 
printers.
Paul Looney