ORGANIZE THOSE FONTS!

Well, if you followed the directions in my article last month, you've downloaded and installed hundreds of fonts and now your machine is all bogged down and you can't find the font you want. Okay, maybe not, but eventually you'll want a way to organize your fonts so you don't have to look through all these fancy fonts when you just want a plain one, and all the picture fonts when you want a foreign language one.

I keep only the fonts I use frequently in the Windows Font folder, and try to keep the number below 250 (Well, I guess I don't REALLY use 250 fonts frequently!) This is not a hard and fast rule, but the fonts load faster in your word processing or graphics program and it's easier to pick a font when there aren't too many to look through.

---

Create your own font folders: I created a folder called Dyan's Fonts on my C drive and then created folders within that folder to categorize my fonts. I separated fonts by Decorative, Foreign, Dingbat Floral, Dingbat People, Symbols, etc. Of course, you can sort your fonts whichever way is easier for you and name your folders accordingly.



For detailed directions on how to create these folders, click here.

I then went to my Windows Font folder (located on the C Drive under Windows), clicked on each font file to view it and determined if I would use it frequently. If not, I dragged the file into the categoriezed folder that I had created.

This will take some time initially, but now, when you find a font you want, you can download it directly into the proper folder and you won't have to go through this again. An easier way to view all the fonts without clicking on each one is to use a Font Manager like X-Fonter that I mention below.

---

Use your categorized fonts:

In most cases, to use the fonts in these folders you created, you don't have to install them into the Windows Font folder. Just navigate to the folder that contains the font you want, and double click on the font file to open it. The picture to the right shows an open font file (Arthur). As long as you keep that file open, the font will appear in the list of fonts in most word processing or graphics program. Then, when you're done creating and you've printed your artwork, you can close the font file. (This does not work on my computer in Publisher and used to work in Word but doesn't any longer. It does work in all my graphics programs. To quickly install a font, see information below on X-Fonter).

---

Just a word of caution: if you save a file in Word and then open it again before opening the font file, your text will not display properly. Don't panic! Just open your font file first, then reopen your document. If you use a graphics program, once you save the file as a .jpg, it will always display properly. The picture below to the left shows my text in Arthur font in a Word document which was created when the font file was open. The picture below to the right shows the same open document with the font file closed. It displays the text in my default font, but the spacing is not correct.       

---

I use a great free Font Manager called X-Fonter 4.5, and you can download the program here. When you open the program, it automatically loads all the fonts in your Windows font folder. If you check the box "Show Font Style" as shown on my sample to the right, the name of the font is printed in the actual font so you can see what your text will look like.

You can set the option of what you see on the right side of the X-Fonter screen in the Settings Menu, and I chose Wrap Text so I can see what all the letters look like. Also under the Settings Menu, under Texts, I choose Alphabets, Numerics, Symbols, so I can see Upper Case and Lower Case letters, numbers and any symbols. In the example to the right, the font Arabia Regular shows lower case letters, then upper case letters, but the square boxes at the bottom indicate that there are no numbers or symbols with this font. In some cases, especially with picture (dingbat) fonts, there may be only upper or lower case letters used and this is a great way to find out what is available.

---

There is a Browse tab available and you can navigate to the font files you created. When I want to use a Decorative font, for example, I open X-Fonter, browse to my Decorative Font folder, and I can see the complete list of fonts and decide which one I want to use. You can't open a font from this program however; you still need to actually navigate to your font folder in Windows Explorer to open the font. However, if you can install the font to your regular Windows font folder, by clicking the Install button at the bottom left.

This program has a great feature that lets you create your own text using various colors, gradients, shadows, etc. and allows you to save it as a .jpg file. I'll talk more about this program next month, but in the meantime, have fun with it!

---

My "font of the month" is Killigraphy, which can be downloaded from Simply the Best font site. They have some amazing fonts, and here's the link directly to the Killigraphy font: Killigraphy

I experimented with Faux Batik this month using Posh Impressions Inkabilities and some great self-stick mulberry paper by Short Cuts. I printed the quote on vellum using the Killigraphy font at size 34, attaching it to the front of the card with eyelets, and to the inside with vellum tape.       

---

I made another batik card, this time using Twinkling H2O's to color the card. I used the Console font mentioned last month, and printed, cut out and covered the letters with Glossy Accents to look like typewriter keys.

---

I hope I've given you some good ideas on how to organize your fonts, and if you have any questions, let me know. I'll be discussing Dingbat fonts next month and will have some super examples to share with you.

Dyan Cross
dyancross@ssreflections.com
Captain's First Mate
Editorial Deck Crewmember
S.S. Reflections, Inc.


This entire web site © Copyright S.S. Reflections, Inc. Legal Statement