What About Fonts?

In My Humble Opinion
21

AudreyK - do you have any suggestions for particularly good foundry sites with freebie sections? (I did try the ones you posted previously)

Also, can anyone here point out any freebie fixed-width fonts? No major reason, I’m just bored with the plain text fonts bundled with Windows/IE.

22

Before you read any further, check out this link, which was originally posted by waterj2. I’ve never seen a more informative site. Follow the Freeware/shareware Fonts>Archive link for a long list of free/cheap font sites. (BTW, I love the main page title: “On snot and fonts”. :D)

If you feel any need for more advice after you’ve explored that site, then try this: Go back to one of those totally-free fonts sites and have a good look around. Totally-free font sites are a good way to decide what kinds of fonts you like, because they generally are good on variety. Do you like dingbats? Script fonts? Handwriting fonts? Grunge or retro fonts? Sites like that will help you figure out your tastes. You can then use that as your search criteria. Try your search engine of choice with the keywords “type foundry fonts (font preference type)”. You should get back links to font foundries that specialize in that type of font.

Happy exploring. I do hope you find some fonts you like.

23

Thanks again! I’ve just spent a (very dull) hour downloading numerous fonts. Fixed-width faces seem hard to come by (one so far), but I now have enough proportional-width to crash my aging PC a hundred times over.

24

:slight_smile: Same here. Three CDs full, and counting…

By the way, in my experience, fixed-width fonts are pretty much limited to Courier-esque fonts. If Courier doesn’t hold your interest, then it might not be worth the time to keep looking.

25

I’ve currently managed to dig up a grand total of six (including the pre-installed fonts), so I think I’ll call it a day now.

26

I hate to be a wet blanket, but be careful. While there are loads of free fonts that are just fine, you do get what you pay for.

If, after installing some fonts of dubious origin, you start having problems with your applications or system, the first thing you should try is removing the new fonts.

I’ve never heard of anyone distributing bad fonts maliciously, but I’ve several times run into fonts that caused unintended conflicts. Fonts are software, just like apps are, so they can have bugs. But, since they live at the system level, their bugs can end up affecting your entire computing experience. Remove the fonts, and report the problem to the font’s creator, if possible.

The preceding is not intended to discourage anyone from using free or cheap fonts. It’s just to let you know that a small percentage of them can hurt you.

27

Oh, and while you other font people are around, could anyone point me towards a free version of Optima? I’ve alway liked that one.

28
      • Um, what?
  • Early this morning I downloaded a bunch and just placed the (unzipped) .ttf files into the fonts dir. I tested all of them with a couple lines of text each and they all seemed to do as intended. I didn’t find any “install fonts” option, but that was Office 97, and this is now.
  • I just went out and bought Office 2000; is the install feature you are speaking of in Word/O2K or 97? Or both? What do you mean by “accessing” the fonts directory? - MC
29
      • AND FOR GOD’S SAKE WHAT HAPPENED TO FONZIE? - MC
30
      • Just wanna say, - Word2K is far cooler as much as fonts go because instead of the regular text drop-down box of '97, it has a bigger one that gives the font’s name in regular letters, and then shows a few letters of the font itself! (this morning I was wondering how I was going to remember what all this stuff looked like)~
  • 'Course, Macs have probably been doing it that way for the last five years, but my college teaches about 3% of all its CIS courses on Macs. So solly, no sale. - MC
31

In Windows, the Fonts directory is a strange thing. It is partly a folder and partly a control panel. (Same for the Printers directory) So, when people talk about accessing the Fonts directory, they are talking about going to the Start button, then to Settings, then choosing Control Panel. In the Control Panel, double-click on the Fonts icon.

This gets you to the window which has ‘Install New Font’ on its File menu. You can also get previews of your fonts by double-clicking on the font’s icon.

If your fonts start to number in the hundreds, consider getting a font management app. I love Adobe Type Manager Deluxe, myself. If the number of your fonts start to approach 800-1000, it’s no longer an option. You need to either get a manager or uninstall a lot of fonts.

32

waterj2, try this link:

http://www.masterstech-home.com/The_Library/Font_Samples/Font_Indices/O.html

To the right, about eight or so fonts down, you’ll see a link to Optima Bitmap. Download that one, and you’ll get Optima 10-24. There’s also a Optima-wannabe font there called Optane.

Preview for Optane:
http://www.masterstech-home.com/The_Library/Font_Samples/Font_Indices/Image_Pages/O/Optane.html

Preview for Optima on same site:
http://www.masterstech-home.com/The_Library/Font_Samples/Font_Indices/Image_Pages/O/Optima.html

And for comparison’s sake to the pedigree Optima:

33
      • Re: Start>Settings>Control Panel>Fonts.
  • Doh!! … Okay, I knowed where that are. I usually resort to doing my damage from the command line, so the bit about “accessing the fonts directory” didn’t make a whole lotta sense right off. - MC
34

Yeah, if you’re accessing the fonts directory from the command line, then you are probably installing them the proper way, instead of the Windows way which, naturally, has to be complicated to make it seem like you’re achieving something.