Changing Fonts in a Style Template

Notice that all of the recommended styles use Sans-serif fonts. The following example shows how to create a custom style that uses Serif fonts instead. The example uses the STATISTICAL style as a starting point (parent) for the custom style.

The following PROC TEMPLATE code shows the beginning of the style definition for the STATISTICAL style, which is delivered with the SAS System. Only the code to be modified is shown.

proc template;
define style Styles.Statistical;
parent = styles.default;

style fonts /
 'TitleFont2'=("<sans-serif>, <MTsans-serif>, Helvetica,Helv",2,bold)
 'TitleFont'=("<sans-serif>, <MTsans-serif>, Helvetica,Helv",3,bold)
 'StrongFont'=("<sans-serif>, <MTsans-serif>, Helvetica,Helv",2,bold)
 'EmphasisFont'=("<sans-serif>, <MTsans-serif>, Helvetica,Helv",2,italic)
 'FixedFont'=("<monospace>, Courier",2)
 'BatchFixedFont'=("SAS Monospace, <monospace>, Courier, monospace",2)
 'FixedHeadingFont'=("<monospace>, Courier, monospace",2)
 'FixedStrongFont'=("<monospace>, Courier, monospace",2,bold)
 'FixedEmphasisFont'=("<monospace>, Courier, monospace",2,italic)
 'headingEmphasisFont'=("<sans-serif>, <MTsans-serif>, Helvetica,
       Helv",2,bold italic)
 'headingFont'=("<sans-serif>, <MTsans-serif>, Helvetica, Helv",2,bold)
 'docFont'=("<sans-serif>, <MTsans-serif>, Helvetica, Helv",2);

style GraphFonts /    
 'GraphDataFont'=("<sans-serif>, <MTsans-serif>",7pt)
 'GraphUnicodeFont'=("<MTsans-serif-unicode>",9pt)
 'GraphValueFont'=("<sans-serif>, <MTsans-serif>",9pt)
 'GraphLabelFont'=("<sans-serif>, <MTsans-serif>",10pt)
 'GraphFootnoteFont'=("<sans-serif>, <MTsans-serif>",10pt,italic)
 'GraphTitleFont'=("<sans-serif>, <MTsans-serif>",11pt,bold)
 'GraphAnnoFont'=("<sans-serif>, <MTsans-serif>",10pt);

  /* more code */

end;
run;

We make the following changes:

Assign a name to a new style that identifies STATISTICAL as its parent style. It is recommended that you create a new style of a different name so that access to the existing style is not blocked. See discussion under Controlling ODS Search Paths.
Change the Fonts style element (affects tables) so that it uses Serif fonts.
Change the GraphFonts style element (affects graphs) so that it uses Serif fonts.

Two style elements govern all fonts in a style: the Fonts element governs tables, and the GraphFonts element governs graphs. When changing fonts in a style, be sure to make consistent changes to both elements. In this case, we want to change from a sans-serif font to a serif font. You can also change font size, weight, and style.

In style templates, the name of a font family normally appears as a quoted string. However, ODS also supports an indirect reference to a font family. When a font name appears between less than and greater than symbols, such as <sans-serif>, it means that the font family sans-serif is defined in the SAS Registry. For the Windows Release of SAS, here are some of the registry keys and values that are stored under ODS

Fonts:

Registry Keys and Values for Fonts in the Windows Release of SAS

The registry definition of MTsans-serif and MTserif refer to TrueType fonts that are shipped with SAS and are similar to "Arial" and "Times New Roman." These "MT" fonts (short for Monotype) can be used on any computer where SAS is installed. A specific font family such as "Verdana" could be used instead. Note that fonts are normally listed in a "most-specific" to "most generic" order so that reasonable substitution can be made when a font cannot be located on the current computer.

Notice that several graph fonts affect different parts of a graph. The following table shows some but not all features that are affected by the graph fonts:

GraphTitleFont	Used for all titles of the graph. Typically the largest font.
GraphFootnoteFont	Used for all footnotes. Typically smaller than the titles. Sometime footnotes are italicized.
GraphLabelFont	Used for axis labels and legend titles. Generally smaller than titles.
GraphValueFont	Used for axis tick values and legend entries. Generally smaller than labels.
GraphDataFont	Used for text where minimum size is necessary (such as point labels).
GraphUnicodeFont	Used for adding special glyphs (for example, α , ±, € ) to text in the graph (see Adding and Changing Text in a Graph).
GraphAnnoFont	Default font for text added as annotation in the ODS Graphics Editor.

The SAS Output Delivery System: User's Guide provides information and examples of all predefined style elements and attributes.

In our example, we will name our modified style template SerifStatistical , change all occurrences of sans-serif to serif, change all occurrences of MTsans-serif to MTserif, and change Helvetica and Helv (sans-serif fonts) to Times (a serif font):

proc template;
 define style Styles.SerifStatistical ;
  parent = styles.statistical;
   style fonts /
    'TitleFont2'=(" <serif> , <MTserif> , Times ",2,bold)
    'TitleFont'=(" <serif> , <MTserif> , Times ",3,bold)
    'StrongFont'=(" <serif> , <MTserif> , Times ",2,bold)
    'EmphasisFont'=(" <serif> , <MTserif> , Times ",2,italic)
    'FixedFont'=("<monospace>, Courier",2)
    'BatchFixedFont'=("SAS Monospace, <monospace>, Courier, monospace",2)
    'FixedHeadingFont'=("<monospace>, Courier, monospace",2)
    'FixedStrongFont'=("<monospace>, Courier, monospace",2,bold)
    'FixedEmphasisFont'=("<monospace>, Courier, monospace",2,italic)
    'headingEmphasisFont'=(" <serif> , <MTserif> , Times ",
             2,bold italic)
    'headingFont'=(" <serif> , <MTserif> , Times ",2,bold)
    'docFont'=(" <serif> , <MTserif> , Times ",2);

   style GraphFonts /
    'GraphTitleFont'=(" <serif> , <MTserif> ",11pt,bold)
    'GraphFootnoteFont'=(" <serif> , <MTserif> ",10pt,italic)
    'GraphLabelFont'=(" <serif> , <MTserif> ",10pt)
    'GraphValueFont'=(" <serif> , <MTserif> ",9pt)
    'GraphDataFont'=(" <serif> , <MTserif> ",7pt)
    'GraphUnicodeFont'=(" <MTserif-unicode> ",9pt)
    'GraphAnnoFont'=(" <serif> , <MTserif> ",10pt);
 end;
run;

Note: By assigning the parent to STYLES.STATISTICAL, we need to change only two style elements. The rest of the elements are inherited.