[PatBranch]

I barely have any fonts and need to download some. Once I download them, I read that I have to import them in the control panel.

Do I need certain formats for photoshop (main need for fonts), or is there a way to import them?

 

[Kornphlake]

I'd just follow the directions you read that said you have to import the fonts. I know true type fonts are pretty standard fonts for windows based systems, they will show up on the display exactly as they will print. This may seem like a dumb feature but back in the old days printers had their own fonts and when you printed text the font would be the printer's font not necessarily the font shown on your screen.

There is some trickery to working with fonts in Photoshop. I'm not really an expert but I have a friend who had a pretty big deal go sour because he couldn't get a project to print right. He'd done up a poster and took it to an imaging place to have it printed in large format and when it was printed the text looked crappy, there was something about the font that he used not being a standard font and when he saved the project to a .tif it stripped the detail from the fonts so they printed at a lower quality than the rest of the project.

 

[Transcend]

Not quite. The problem is that photoshop converts fonts into bitmaps to save as a graphic format. When you do that, they no longer scale. That is why most people use Illustrator or a layout application (indesign 2, quark) when it comes to print stuff and use photoshop for what it was designed for - manipulating photos.

Also, if he was using an older mac system, he may not have had the printer font, only the screen font. This is no longer an issue.

Any fonts that work with your system will work with photoshop. (ttf, dobe fonts etc).

 

[PatBranch]

So, what should i do?

 

[Transcend]

Like i said, you can use any PC font if you have a PC and any mac font if you have a mac.

 

[PatBranch]

If I downloaded, then installed fonts and I had some of them, what would happen?

 

[binary visions]

Nothing. It'll ask you if you want to overwrite them.

 

[SofaKingBanned]

If you're going to have a big enough font library, might as well invest in a font manager like Adobe Type Manager, Extensis Suitcase or similar.

As for Photoshop and text, please re-read Transcends post. Failing to understand the difference between raster and vector can very quickly destroy a project.


Here's the best way to set type... 72dpi in photoshop, export as jpg (medium compression), place into a word file, email it to me. Seriously. What the fvck are people thinking?

 

[PatBranch]

I downloaded the MainType font manager, this morning. Is the Adobe one much better?

So, a vector font can be scaled (with the font size in a program), because it's just info descibing how it shows the font and raster font can't be because it's a bitmap?

If I used a raster font, would I be able to scale it with the transform tool in edit in photoshop?

 

[PatBranch]

I got a bunch of Open type fonts with Corel Draw X3

Another question..... If I use non stock / foreign (to people's computers) fonts on a site, will they be linked from the web/browser automatically, like colors? Is there a way to use aftermarket fonts on a site?

 

[Ridemonkey]

I got a bunch of Open type fonts with Corel Draw X3

Another question..... If I use non stock / foreign (to people's computers) fonts on a site, will they be linked from the web/browser automatically, like colors? Is there a way to use aftermarket fonts on a site?

Not easily. If it's going to be HTML text on the site you should stick to the core web fonts:

- Arial
- Verdana
- Helvetica
- Times
- Times New Roman
- Georgia
- Courier
- Courier New
- Geneva

 

[SofaKingBanned]

fonts MUST exist on any computer they're viewed on -OR- be self-contained (embedded) in the transport medium.

In other words, if you want to use a unique font, you can do so in a photo (jpg, gif) file, you can do it in a Flash (swf) file or you can created a PDF people can download.

Never use a unique font for body copy.