A computer font (or fount) is an electronic data file containing a set of glyphs, characters, or symbols. Although the term font first referred to a set of metal type sorts in one style and size, since the 1990s most fonts are digital, used on computers.
There are three basic kinds of computer font file data formats:
- Bitmap fonts consist of a series of dots or pixels representing the image of each glyph in each face and size.
- Outline fonts (also called vector fonts) use Bézier curves, drawing instructions and mathematical formulas to describe each glyph, which make the character outlines scalable to any size.
- Stroke fonts use a series of specified lines and additional information to define the profile, or size and shape of the line in a specific face, which together describe the appearance of the glyph.
Definition from Wikipedia.
Tip: open the same page in a second browser tab so you can simply switch between a 'before' & 'after' version and make a direct comparison.
There are many sources to download free fonts;
Plan Website Font;
Font, in terms of website design refers to the style of text displayed on the web page. The origin of the term is of course historically derived from typefaces used in the printing industry.
Their use in website pages is governed by the computer program or application which presents web pages, otherwise known as a web browser. The point is that web browser handling of website page fonts is crucial in deciding which choice is made. Your word processor may handle a font in a way that pleases the eye, but a web browser may give a very different result.
An assortment of bitmap fonts from the first version of the Macintosh operating system – from wikipedia.
The facts are that different web browser brands behave differently in their handling of web page fonts, and that some important limitations exist with them all. Web browsers only consistently render a very limited range of fonts, known as ‘native’ fonts or ‘browser safe fonts’, and more significantly, the utilised font must be installed on the end-user computer before it will display at all. This means the website designer must employ alternatives when non-native fonts are chosen for a particular web page so a fall-back strategy is in place.
Even with the native fonts, some web browsers display certain fonts considerably better than others. There is a vast choice of alternative fonts, but web browser handling should be explored before using them. A great looking font in a word processor can look very different in the web browser.
This page lets you explore the differences in the most commonly used fonts, and how different browsers handle them. This process can be useful when planning your website design.
You can select any combination of font type and font size. Changes can be made separately, or both together, as many times as you like. Colour can be controlled from the website page colour selection page. You can display the page in different browsers to make a cross-browser comparison.
There are numerous font types available, so if you want to explore a particular non-native font in this interactive environment, you are welcome to submit font requests using the message form on the website page styling planner page.
Bitmap fonts are faster and easier to use in computer code, but inflexible, requiring a separate font for each size. Outline and stroke fonts can be resized using a single font and substituting different measurements for components of each glyph, but are somewhat more complicated to use than bitmap fonts as they require additional computer code to render the outline to a bitmap for display on screen or in print.
A bitmap image can be displayed in a different size only with some distortion, but renders quickly; outline or stroke image formats are resizable but take more time to render as pixels must be drawn from scratch each time they are displayed. Fonts are designed and created using font editors.
Fonts specifically designed for the computer screen and not printing are known as screenfonts.