By Lou Dolinar
Last of two articles 
Updated Feb. 14, 2006

Most of the time, we can safely ignore one of the more interesting technologies in computing, beautifully rendered, scalable fonts that we tend to take for granted. For most folks, the collection that ships with Windows XP is all they'll ever need and it functions perfectly in the background.

Sometimes a little too perfectly, as Dan Rather discovered when he hung his reputation on Times New Roman typeface and memos that almost certainly originated on a PC, rather than on a circa 1972 typewriter. We looked at some of the history behind that last week, and this week we'll take a stab at some issues surrounding type on your computer.

Let's start with what you most likely have on your computer. Civilians who use Windows work with TrueType font technology, jointly developed by Apple and Microsoft. Pros, like graphic artists, usually opt for Macs and Adobe's PostScript fonts, which can be used interchangeably with TrueType. The only catch: You need to install a font utility, Adobe Type Manager, in any version of Windows other than XP or 2000, to use PostScript. We're also beginning to see fonts in a new standard, OpenType, a jointproject of Adobe and Microsoft that merges the two standards and extends compatibility across Mac, PC and Unix and Linux systems.

To install new fonts in Windows XP, open the Fonts applet in your Control Panel. Select File/Install New Font, and select the folder containing the font you want to install; you can delete fonts you don't want, or drag them to a folder for future use. Generally it's a bad idea to load up on fonts you don't need; they waste memory and bog down the operating system.

If you need to match the appearance of a specific font, don't just grab something that looks similar. Font designs are copyrighted, and you'll need the name and manufacturer to get a precise match. The big vendors include Adobe (www.adobe.com), Bitstream (www.bitstream.com), Linotype (www.linotype.com) and Agfa-Monotype (www.fonts.com). These sites also have a lot a material on type history and trends, and are a worthwhile way to kill a few hours on a rainy day.

All the major vendors sell fonts you can download over the Net, or you can buy a CD with their entire font collection, then purchase "unlocking" codes as you need more. Individual fonts can cost as much as $39. Bundled fonts are a little cheaper: A basic collection of four classic sans-serif Futura faces, similar to Arial in Windows, goes for $99 at Bitstream for example.

That's not cheap, but fonts from these companies are of exceedingly high quality - pros can easily see the difference. My wife, Linda, is a graphic artist, and she wouldn't dream of using one of those off-brand, 400-fonts- for-$25 packages back in her corporate freelance days.

On the other hand, you don't need brand-name type for school projects and home publishing, and hundreds of amateur type designers have put their wares in the public domain. You'll find a fair number of these if you Google "free fonts." I particularly like www.highfonts.com.

Drawn-to-order fonts are also available. While I doubt that few readers of this column are in the market for services that offer high-end "custom corporate identity fonts," you may be interested in custom fonts that mimic your handwriting. The basic idea - you send the service a handwriting sample, which they scan and use to produce a TrueType or Postscript font.

The effect is usually a pretty good facsimile suitable for memos. For signatures, you can also use bitmap or gif scans of your signature,which you save and insert into word processing documents. Just watch this one - you don't want your daughter buying herself a new Mustang with a perfectly rendered TrueType signature in your checking program.

A custom package with TrueType and bitmap signatures, which also make a pretty nice gift, runs about $150 at www.vletter.com/products.htm. I've seen other sites that offer these fonts for around $30.

If you decide to go off the deep end and install hundreds of fonts - not an uncommon phenomenon among visually oriented people - you may run into problems with font conflicts and slow startups. One way to get around this is to use a font management program. This kind of software makes it easier to organize, load and unload character sets, thus keeping overhead on your system to a minimum.

The two leaders here are Adobe Type Manager Deluxe ($69, www.adobe.com) and Extensis' Suitcase ($89, www.extensis.com). Google "font management utilities" and you'll find a slew of cheaper shareware alternatives.

You also can design your own font. The industry standards here are Macromedia's Fontographer ($349, www.macromedia.com) and Fontlab ($549, www.font.to). On a somewhat less posh note, you might also want to get your feet wet with Font Creator ($49, www.high-logic.com).

I imagine, even as we speak, that there are elves busily cobbling up Old Texas Air National Guard, a monospace font that simulates the appearance of 1972 typewriter type that has been photocopied 15 times.