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First of all, here is a code to compile :

\documentclass[11pt,a4paper]{article}  
\usepackage[latin1]{inputenc}
\usepackage{palatino} % for font
\usepackage{fancyhdr} % for header+footers
\usepackage{graphicx} % for plots/pictures
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{mathrsfs}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage[inner=3.5cm,outer=3cm,top=2cm,bottom=2.5cm,includeheadfoot]{geometry}

\pagestyle{fancy} 

\lhead{Test Test Test}

\rhead{Fiche Archive}
\fancyfoot[C]{} 
\fancyfoot[L]{\footnotesize{\copyright \hspace{0.1cm} Rien Rien Rien}}

\begin{document} 

\begin{center} 

{ \Large {\bf Stage }}
\end{center} 

\vspace{0.5cm}
\hrule
\vspace{0.15cm}
\noindent$\bullet$ {\sc Identité de l'étudiant, Dddddd}
\vspace{0.15cm}
\hrule
\vspace{0.4cm}

\noindent{\bf NOM :} Nom 

\noindent{\bf Pr\'enom :}  Prénom

\noindent{\bf Filière :} ddqfqsf

\noindent{\bf Année Universitaire :} 2012-2013 

\noindent{\bf Mail :} dfsdgsg

\vspace{0.5cm}

\end{document}

If you have a look at the resulting pdf file with Adobe Reader, you will probably see distortions in some letters the "T" and "D" but they may disappear while zooming.

I've been told this is an error by Adobe Reader which doesn't round correctly some pixels and leads to that scale effect.

But I would like to know if that is the only reason and if it could be avoided by setting parameters such as encoding type (latin, uft8), geometry or anything else

enter image description here

Masroor
  • 17,842
abel413
  • 75
  • 2
    What kind of distortion? I see nothing strange in xpdf or acrobat reader. Perhaps you could upload a screenshot? (I removed the latex3 tag as there is no latex3 code in your example) – David Carlisle Sep 08 '13 at 19:30
  • Here is how I see on Adobe Reader (zoom 145%) : http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/gg481/abel413/test_zps688be280.png : see the "T" and the different "D" – abel413 Sep 08 '13 at 19:51
  • Look in acrobat's right menu properties at the fonts, are they all "type 1" it looks like you are using a bitmap for the small caps?? of course \sc and \bf have been deprecated commands in latex for 20 years, but you'd get the same fonts if you used the standard commands such as \bfseries and \scshape – David Carlisle Sep 08 '13 at 20:02
  • @DavidCarlisle it's not bitmap: Type 1 is a vector format. – Lev Bishop Sep 08 '13 at 20:04
  • @LevBishop yes I know T1 is a vector format:-) I thought perhaps he'd picked up a bitmap version somehow instead of type 1. But I note in your answer that it is just very poor hinting. – David Carlisle Sep 08 '13 at 20:08
  • I didn't find the options for fonts (Adobe Reader XI). But I compiled the code without the palatino font and indeed I don't see the distorsions anymore. I didn't even notice such a font had been used. – abel413 Sep 08 '13 at 20:09
  • Would you mind telling what anything like this may be avoided in order not to encounter rounding effects like this ? There, indeed, tthe use of a non standard font was a bad idea. Futhermore, would such distorsions be caused by unusual margins, uft8 vs latin encoding and so on ? – abel413 Sep 08 '13 at 20:12
  • It's really only a function of the fonts. Margins, etc, are irrelevant. However, there's a situation that will automatically change the font: when you switch to T1 font encoding, \usepackage[T1]{fontenc} (desirable, eg, to get hyphenation of words containing accents, as in French language). Because Computer Modern has no T1 encoding, you will get CM-Super which has similar problems with hinting. Latin modern (\usepackage{lmodern}) is generally superior to CM-Super, but still has hinting issues. – Lev Bishop Sep 08 '13 at 20:31
  • To get (some of) the benefits of T1 encoding, along with the good hinting of the Bluesky Computer Modern one can \usepackage{ae}, although it is not without problems (eg, cutting and pasting accented text out of the PDF behaves strangely). – Lev Bishop Sep 08 '13 at 20:37

1 Answers1

10

The problems you are seeing are not really caused by LaTeX per se but rather by the font you are using (in this case URW Palladio L). The issue is that the "hinting" in the font is not good enough. Some PDF viewers pay less attention to the hinting instructions, by doing some form of autohinting and/or by using a rendering process that produces somewhat fuzzier text.

Typically, commercial fonts (eg from Adobe) have good hinting and commercial software (eg, from Adobe) makes full use of it. Conversely, free software and free fonts mostly pay little attention to (in-font) hinting. Either situation looks fine. However, when you mix non-hinted fonts with adobe reader's expectation of good hinting, you get this type of problem. Your best approach is to use a different, better-hinted font. Eg, I don't have Adobe Pallatino, but I doubt it has this issue.

Lev Bishop
  • 45,462
  • Well thank you for your help and the detailed explanations provided. I'm not totally sure to understand what you said about T1 fontenc. In most of my work I don't use either CM-super and lmodern but something like this in the preamble: \usepackage[frenchb]{babel} \usepackage[T1]{fontenc} \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} \usepackage[inner=3cm,outer=3cm,top=2cm,bottom=2.5cm,includeheadfoot]{geometry} Should I delete the T1 package ? Regarding the \usepackage{ae} you refer to, I am not sure how to use in my context in so far as I am not using Bluesky Computer Modern. – abel413 Sep 09 '13 at 06:57
  • Moreover I gave a try to \usepackage[T1]{fontenc} \usepackage{ae,aecompl} but any of the \of \fg is recognized : I get black shapes instead of " " – abel413 Sep 09 '13 at 09:14
  • @Guest with the \usepackage[T1]{fontenc} you are most likely using CM-super. Without that package you are most likely using Bluesky Computer Modern. (Assuming you have a fairly recent tex installation, like texlive or miktex). If you are happy with the way CM-super looks (there are some hinting problems, but not as bad as in your example above) then you don't need to change anything. If you want to stick with Bluesky, but allow hyphenation of accented words, then add \usepackage{ae} after \usepackage[T1]{fontenc} as you showed. For guillemets you can also add \usepackage{aeguill}. – Lev Bishop Sep 09 '13 at 18:27
  • Then, it looks like using T1 is a good idea. I gave a try to different other fonts but I rather prefer the default one. I've read this http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/9335/is-there-a-way-to-make-standard-latex-pdf-output-look-good-on-screen-as-well?rq=1 and it seems some hintings are unavoidable. – abel413 Sep 09 '13 at 20:29