At first glance, it appears to be a jumble of redundant descriptors. However, for designers, developers, and publishing professionals, this string is a precise fingerprint. It tells a complete story about one of the most ubiquitous typefaces in the world: Arial.
Specifically, Version 701 Western Top may be tweaked so that uppercase letters (like 'T' and 'O') and ascenders (like 'b' and 'd') align perfectly with the layout engine's top margin without clipping. This was a common fix in Microsoft’s font updates to resolve issues with printing and dialog box text truncation. In some font management utilities (e.g., Extensis Suitcase, FontExplorer X), "Top" is an internal flag that specifies this font variant should appear at the top of the font selection dropdown for the family "Arial" – i.e., as the default, regular member of the group. 3. A Build Label from Monotype Monotype’s internal versioning system sometimes uses qualifiers like Top , Bottom , Base , or Peak to indicate the stage of testing or the rendering target. "Top" could denote that this is the final, gold-master version intended for widespread OS distribution, as opposed to a beta or internal testing build. Part 5: The Historical Context – Version 701 To fully appreciate this keyword, you need to understand the version number: Version 701 . arialnormal opentype truetype version 701 western top
This article breaks down every component of the keyword—, OpenType , TrueType , Version 701 , Western , and Top —to help you understand what this font version is, why it exists, and how it affects your digital documents. Part 1: The Family Name – What is "Arialnormal"? The keyword begins with "Arialnormal." In standard typography, "Arial" is the family name. Arial is a neo-grotesque sans-serif typeface designed by Robin Nicholas and Patricia Saunders for Monotype Typography in 1982. It was created as a cheaper, more versatile alternative to Helvetica, with subtle differences in stroke endings, terminal cuts, and overall spacing. At first glance, it appears to be a
Here are four practical reasons: If you send a .docx or .pdf that specifies "Arialnormal Opentype Truetype Version 701 Western Top" and the recipient has Arial Version 8.0 (which includes Cyrillic and has different metrics), the text may reflow. Lines could break differently, page numbers shift, and layouts break. Knowing the exact version allows you to embed or subset the exact font. 2. Legacy System Support Industrial equipment, medical devices, and point-of-sale terminals often run embedded Windows XP or Windows CE. These systems expect Version 701 specifically. Using a newer Arial font could cause the system to fail to render text entirely or to display tofu (empty rectangles) for common symbols. 3. Web Development & @font-face When using CSS @font-face , you can specify precise local font names. Knowing the full string allows you to target that exact version: Specifically, Version 701 Western Top may be tweaked