# Help me identify a font **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 31, 2003, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-font/198805 "2003-08-31T14:27:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2003, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-font/198805/1 "2003-08-31T14:27:26Z")
I’m trying to identify a particular font, so I can find a Windows version (I think it may be a Mac font). You can see it on [this page](http://my.opera.com/customize/skins/index.pl?cat=&author=0&perscreen=5&skip=0&search=&show=new), in the screenshot labelled “Operatic Orbit 3.1”. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Gadfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gadfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadfly)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2003, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-font/198805/2 "2003-08-31T14:44:05Z")
[http://www.identifont.com](http://www.identifont.com) That should do it. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2003, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-font/198805/3 "2003-08-31T14:49:31Z")
Hmm. Interesting site, but it didn’t help - mostly because I don’t have a large enough sample to answer the questions. ---
**Author:** ![rsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsa)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2003, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-font/198805/4 "2003-08-31T15:09:58Z")
Why don’t you just email the author and ask him? > **[The Opera Blog - News | Opera](https://blogs.opera.com/news/)** > > The latest news about Opera web browsers, tech trends, internet tips. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2003, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-font/198805/5 "2003-08-31T15:34:43Z")
Aye. Might as well try that unless anyone knows offhand. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2003, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-font/198805/6 "2003-08-31T16:03:35Z")
When I view that page, the font in that “Operatic Orbit” screenshot looks exactly the same as the text on the web page, an Arial/Helvetica/Sans-seriff generic font. Does it look different to you? Or are you just referring to the size? ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2003, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-font/198805/7 "2003-08-31T16:10:05Z")
Really? It looked more like a Chicago-style font to me; certainly not Arial (well, not the way it appears on my PC). ---
**Author:** ![Jaade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@Jaade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaade)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2003, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-font/198805/8 "2003-08-31T16:24:34Z")
Looks kinda like Georgia, but there are a few differences ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2003, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-font/198805/9 "2003-08-31T19:03:57Z")
Why don’t you just e-mail the girl/bloke who built the skin, Matt ? [robinwittevrongel@operamail.com](mailto:robinwittevrongel@operamail.com) ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-font/198805/10 "2003-09-01T12:03:27Z")
How is it possible we are seeing different fonts in the same PNG image? Are we all looking at [this image?](http://my.opera.com/customize/skins/img/181.png) ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-font/198805/11 "2003-09-01T12:20:27Z")
Better still - why not download the skin, skin Opera using it, then enter all the identifont question letters using browser toolbar shortcuts? ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-font/198805/12 "2003-09-01T12:25:47Z")
I think it looks like Chicago, a font that is often used on Macs. (But I am pretty sure that you can get a Windows version of it.) ---
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-font/198805/13 "2003-09-01T12:41:40Z")
I used ABBYY Findreader 6 Pro to read the image. I have over 600 Windows fonts installed and it didnt recognize. Must be a Mac font =) ---
**Author:** ![peritrochoid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@peritrochoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peritrochoid)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-font/198805/14 "2003-09-01T13:45:47Z")
I’m pretty sure it is **not** Chicago or Georgia. Chicago is a bulky font that looks fat, not to mention the obvious difference in the lowercase ‘a’. And, IIRC, Georgia is a serif font. It looks like a cross between Geneva and Monaco, but I’m not even sure it _is_ a Mac-only font, at least not a default System font. To me, it looks like one of Windows default font sets that you can choose in the appearances control pane. It’s been suggested before, but I say contact the designer of the skin. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby\_Slippers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/94ad74/32.png) [@Ruby\_Slippers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby_Slippers)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-font/198805/15 "2003-09-01T14:19:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Musicat \* > \*\*How is it possible we are seeing different fonts in the same PNG image? Are we all looking at [this image?](http://my.opera.com/customize/skins/img/181.png) \*\* I could be wrong but I believe that the font you see displayed on web pages depends at least in part on preferences you have set in your own browser. If you haven’t set any preference for fonts, you will see whatever font was set by the page designer – if you have that font on your own PC. If you do not have the designer’s font on your PC, you’ll see a default generic font. I think it is also possible that some browser settings may cause the browser to try to find a near-match for a font if you don’t have the actual font. I have Trebuchet set as my default font in my settings. That means that I’ll see most web text in that font. However, I believe the default is Times Roman. If you haven’t reset your own browser preferences and if the page designer didn’t specify a font, you’ll probably see web text in Times Roman. I learned this early on when I tried to design a few web pages for myself with a Trekkie look. I used one of my Trek fonts for the page and was quite proud of myself. When I went to work the next day and tried to show a co-worker, the text showed up as Times Roman because my PC at work didn’t have any Trek fonts installed. As far as I know, the only way you can ensure that your viewer sees the same font you used is to make your text into a graphic. Otherwise, each viewer will see something different depending on preferences they’ve specified and the availability of installed fonts on the computer they’re using at the time. I hope this helps. If there’s someone out there who’s a tad more tech-literate than I am, perhaps they can expand on this. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-font/198805/16 "2003-09-01T15:52:07Z")
The font is in an image file screenshot, so it shouldn’t be affected by browser preferences. The font I see is definitely sans serif, and looks like a smaller, skinnier version of Chicago. I emailed the chap and he wasn’t sure (it was an old screenshot). He thought it might be called “Tomtom” but I haven’t had any luck so far with Google. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Trari\_de\_Reeson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Count\_Trari\_de\_Reeson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Trari_de_Reeson)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-font/198805/17 "2003-09-01T16:05:20Z")
If you can’t find it, try something from the Futura family. One of the light ones. They are very close to it. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-font/198805/18 "2003-09-01T16:48:05Z")
Just wanted to say I like the nick, **Count**! 😃 Quasi