Why do some fonts work and others don't in LaTeX?

Question

I use the Helvetica font and everything is OK, but if I try to use Garamond for instance then I run into problems... and I cannot compile (or the pdf tells me that it cannot retrieve the fonts, when I try for instance to use bt-charter).. I use the following packages in my tex file and I compite with xelatex (because of strange characters in my bib file). Is the problem coming from here?

\documentclass[12pt,captions=nooneline]{scrartcl}

\setlength{\textwidth}{6.2in}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenx}


\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{ragged2e}



\usepackage{helvet}

\usepackage{slantsc}
\usepackage{array}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{harvard}
\usepackage{siunitx}
\usepackage{savesym}
\usepackage{caption}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{subfigure}
\usepackage{microtype}
\usepackage{geometry}
\usepackage{pdflscape}
\usepackage{eurosym}
\usepackage{epsfig}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{setspace}
\usepackage{verbatim}

Don't use inputenx or inputenc with xelatex. Beside this: try to make your question more concrete by concentrating on one problem and make a complete but minimal example for this problem. — Ulrike Fischer, May 22 '13 at 15:44
in addition to what Ulrike and Alan said: you're not telling us which of the many fonts called Garamond you're using and how you're invoking it. »if I try to use garamond for instance then I run into problems« is a rather vague description of the problem. — Nils L, May 22 '13 at 15:59

score 10 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:36

Unfortunately you are doing many things wrong all at the same time. First of all, with XeTeX should should never load the inputenc package; XeTeX deals with UTF-8 encoded files automatically.

See Frequently loaded packages: Differences between pdfLaTeX and XeLaTeX

Furthermore, if the reason for switching to XeTeX is properties of your .bib file, then you should not be using the harvard package and bibtex at all, but you must use biblatex and biber, since bibtex cannot deal with a UTF-8 encoded .bib file.

That being said, however, depending on how you are managing your .bib file, your reference manager may allow you to input UTF-8 characters but actually converts them to non-UTF-8 equivalents, in which case you may not require bibilatex and biber.

See bibtex vs. biber and biblatex vs. natbib

On the font issue you need to be more explicit in what the problem is. If you are using XeTeX you usually load system fonts by name using the fontspec package. But to see exactly what the problem is, you should make a Minimal Working Example which consists of a complete document (with \documentclass{} ... \begin{document} ... \end{document} and just the packages that give rise to the problem. Then ask your question around that.

For example, for math fonts that are compatible with XeTeX see:

What math fonts are available that work in xelatex?

But first it seems you need to do a bit more general reading about the way all of the pieces of TeX and LaTeX work together.

See What are good learning resources for a LaTeX beginner?

Why do some fonts work and others don't in LaTeX?

1 Answers1