WHAT'S A FONT?

 

Or, How To Spruce Up "Stuff" On Your Computer

One of the most overlooked components of a computer are fonts. What is a font? A font is a specific size and style of type - the origins of which go back to the printing presses where type was set my hand. Windows comes with a small number of basic fonts, but they don't even scratch the surface of what can be done to spruce things up in letters, e-mail, newsletters and posters.

Over the next three weeks, we're going to explore font families, how to install and uninstall fonts, and why you should have a font manager if you acquire more than 500 fonts on your computer. (The Keystone Keyboard computer has more than 21,000 fonts.) First, though, let's look at a few examples of fonts and how they make the same word or phrase look differently.

 

Are you able to pick out some of the fonts like "Pepsi, Blade Runner, Candy Cane, Disney and Batman?" Do you see how just switching fonts could change the entire slant of a message or a graphic presentation?

Next week, we'll explore using a font manager (and why you should have one with Windows), where to get fonts and how to insert them into your presentation.