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Finding Fonts FAQ
| Q. | I need 'font x'. Can you send it to me? |
| A. | No. We do not sell or distribute fonts. |
| Q. | OK. Can you tell me where I can get it? |
| A. | This is very unlikely, as there are over 100,000 digital fonts in existence. Your best bet is to contact one of the font distributors listed in our Links section. |
| Q. | But hey, these distributors will charge me money! I want free fonts. |
| A. | Some type designers give away their fonts for free, but most type designers and collectives (known as font foundries) charge money for the fonts they produce. We list 'free font foundries' and 'commercial foundries' in our Links section. |
| Q. | Can you tell me which fonts are supplied with Microsoft products? |
| A. | We've put together lists of fonts supplied with many popular Microsoft products. |
| Q. | How do I print samples of all the fonts installed on my computer? |
| A. | See this Microsoft Knowledge Base article - q209205. |
| Q. | I'm trying to use Hyperterminal to access Minitel in France. It "works" but the pictures are very bad. |
| A. | You need to install the Arial Alternate font, located in the '\OTHER\MINITEL' folder on the Windows 95 CD. |
| Q. | Are fontpacks a good deal? |
I've seen advertised '1000 High Quality' TrueType fonts for $24, whereas another company charges $100 for a single typeface. I know you get what you pay for, but can the $100 typeface really be that much better? | |
| A. | You are right to comment that you get what you pay for. However, there is no easy answer to your question, as there are various factors which combine to make a good quality TrueType font. The most obvious factor is the quality of the actual outlines themselves. It is possible to create font outlines automatically using a utility that traces the edges of bitmap graphics. The quality of these 'auto-traced' typefaces can be very low. However, in some cases, particularly where used for display text, this rough look can be an advantage. The designers of high quality fonts will often spend a large amount of time perfecting their outlines. A second critical factor relates to the spaces between letters. Again, utilities can auto-space characters, however the designers of high quality fonts will spend long periods of time optimising this spacing. Another equally important factor is the quality of the font's 'hinting'. Hinting is a labour intensive process which makes character displayed on screen at small sizes more legible. High quality fonts, especially those designed for screen use should be hinted to a high standard. Unlike some other formats, TrueType allows diagonal as well as vertical and horizontal strokes to be hinted. The quality and level of hinting invested in a font can make all the difference between a good and a great screen font. For more information on how hinting works, and why it helps, see our comprehensive TrueType hinting document. A fact that many users may not be aware of is that fonts can potentially contain bugs that can crash operating systems and applications. High quality fonts have been fed through automated test routines and tested with a wide range of applications and operating systems. Finally, one reason why a font pack might be cheap is that the type designs are simply 'knockoff' copies of other designers' original work. |
