Unlike many of the proprietary features found in the multitude of software choices on the market, most share a common source of fonts to use in the text editing features of the program. Windows comes with a good selection of Font choices but your creative nature is driving you to increase the number of choices you have. Just remember, however, if you are sharing your file with someone, they too must have the same font on their system.

Where do you get new fonts?
You can perform a search on Google and find thousands of sites that offer Fonts. Your search will yield both free downloadable font sites and many companies offering font sets for sale. Your choice to purchase or download free fonts will be driven by your need for new fonts. For casual home use, you will want to harvest as many of the free fonts that may appeal to you. Here are a couple of sites to get you started.

Free PC Fonts is an index of 15 places to download free fonts.

1001 Freefonts is a great resource for some unusual fonts. Easily downloaded and installed on your system.

When downloading fonts from the web, here are a couple of recommendations:
• Save the download files to a Font Download folder that you create in your My Documents Folder
• Before unzipping the files, scan the Font folder to be certain you have not downloaded a virus infected file
• Unzip the font files and isolate the font file from the other text and htm files in a subfolder called Font Files

Searching and downloading fonts can be time consuming, so you may prefer to purchase a font set. Here a couple of options to obtain a large number of fonts quickly.


2000 Fonts Collection


Click Art Fonts 2 by Broderbund

Either of these choices should satisfy your appetite for fonts.

Where are My Fonts Located?
The quickest and easiest way to look at your font selection is through the font folder shortcut found in the Control Panel. You will find the Control Panel under Settings on the Start Menu in Windows 98 and 2000.

Those of you using XP the font folder is a little more obscure. Open the control panel from the start menu, click on Themes and Appearances. The Font folder is located at the top of the See Also selection panel on the left hand side of the Themes and Appearances Window.

Once you have the font folder opened, double click on the font type you want to view. A printable sample sheet will be displayed for you to get a complete picture of what this font will look like in your documents.

How Do I Install New Fonts?

If you purchase a font package, it will come with installation instructions. If you have downloaded fonts from the net, you must install those fonts. Typically, the downloaded fonts will be zipped. You will need to unzip the file prior to installation.

To install your fonts:

• Open your font folder from the Control Panel
• Click on File | Install New Font
• Navigate to the folder where the new fonts are located
• Select one or more font files as desired – Use Select All if you want to add all the fonts in the folder
(use the Shift key to select a block of files or use the CTRL key to select non-adjacent files)
• Click on OK

Once installed, your fonts will be available for you to use in your word processing, spreadsheet, photo editing, desktop publishing and other application programs.

Have a great time searching out new fonts for your creative projects.


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