By Teri-Lynn Masters
Pages of the Heart Design Team Member
Computer fonts provide us with an unlimited number of different looks for our pages!! Having access to all the different fonts and a printer is like having every lettering template ever created!! Therefore it is a great advantage to be able to use these fonts!
The fonts can be purchased in various places, online as well as on CD’s. They can also be found free online…different fonts, but almost always something to meet everyone’s needs! A few places to look for these free fonts to download include:
Doing a web search is one way of finding sites…a simple search for Free Fonts. Be aware that not all sites are secure and that there is a small chance of running into a site with viruses…. so stick with the popular sites that have a good reputation. It is important that you do not erase any fonts that come with your computer as some are designed to work specifically for certain uses and must be there. There is also a certain amount of space on your computer and fonts take up a fair bit of it, so pick and choose your fonts wisely. Once they are installed they are ready to use…but they can be stored on your computer without installing, ready to install for use, in order to keep the computer running smoothly. Available are various programs to help with the storage of fonts.
Downloading
Downloading can be a little tricky but with a little practice can be quick and easy. Once you have found the font you want to download, there is usually a choice available for computer type, Mac or PC. Choose your computer type.
Most fonts are downloaded in a ZIP file. This is a way of compacting them so that the transfer is easier and faster. In order to open these fonts your computer must have the program WinZip installed (www.winzip.com). This is available in a free trial version for a certain amount of time.
On most computers the newer version of WinZip opens the font (most often a .ttf file or true type font) as well as one or two read me files. If your computer tells you that the file may be suspicious and gives the choices of save, open, or cancel; you want to open it. The WinZip programs opens the files downloaded and lists them. Choose the .ttf file. Double clicking on it allows you to see the font…to make sure it was what you wanted. Highlight the .ttf file by clicking on it once, then check the toolbar above for Extract or Extract to. Click once on this button and it will ask you a destination. Most provide a temporary place for your files to go. You may either allow them to go into the temporary default folder, or using the folder library on the screen, choose a folder created for them, or install them directly by placing them into c:/WINDOWS/Fonts.
The font may not actually appear in your font folder immediately. Most often the computer must be rebooted after installing fonts in order to use them.
If you choose not to install all the fonts directly into your c:/WINDOWS/Fonts folder right away (a wise choice) you can create a temporary folder (My Downloaded fonts) under ‘My Documents’ or someplace easy to find, and extract the .ttf files to that folder, saved there for future use. As long as you remember where this folder is, it will not be difficult when you want to use it to go to the folder in ‘My Computer’ and simply move the font to your c:/WINDOWS/Fonts folder, then reboot and use the font. Alternatively, one can install fonts by clicking on the 'Start' button:
Then, go to 'Settings', then 'Control Panel' and double click on 'Fonts'. Now, choose 'File' and 'Install New Font'. Finally, remember where you unzipped the font(s) and go to that directory. Select the font(s) and choose 'OK'. Note: The whole procedure might seem long and hard but after the first few times, you'll get used to it.
The disadvantage of this is the fonts are not always there to look at and chose in any program, so they may get forgotten or overlooked. Many people will print out a list showing the fonts they have available to them in order to choose more easily in the future, the files that are not installed.
Once installed in the appropriate folder the font should appear in the font drop down list of any program on that computer that uses fonts.
There are available some programs designed for managing your fonts. These programs make it easier to install, uninstall, view, and use the fonts. One of these programs is The Font Thing, found at http://www.5star-shareware.com/Desktop/FontTools/font-thing.html. Although not necessary for using fonts, it is another tool to make using fonts easier.
Using Computer Fonts
Now that your fonts are ready to use, where can you use them?? Of course titles and journaling come to mind. Using a variety of programs, the fonts can be manipulated, by size, color, shape, italics, and layout.Most people have Microsoft Word. It is an easy to use program that offers basic usage of fonts for titles and journaling.
Titles
After opening a new document, one can choose to change the font, size and color under Format. A slant can be added to the letters by choosing Italics, and it is advisable to use the Bold lettering to thicken the letters. Effects that can be added which make an interesting title include Shadow (letters are shadowed), Emboss (letters look raised), Engraved (letters look set in like engraving), outline, and underlined. The outline of the letter can be a different color from the fill.
Typing the words you want, in the form you want, makes a nice title that can be placed anywhere on the page, then printed directly onto 8 ½ X 11” paper (or onto 12” paper if you are lucky to have a large printer); or you can print onto one color of cardstock and trim it to fit to your title area. You can also carefully cut out the letters separately.
Alternatively you may want to add some other effects to your title. It is possible to make your title curved, circular, slanted up or down, or any number of possibilities using WordArt in Microsoft Word. You need to make your “Drawing” toolbar appear on your screen by right clicking your mouse on the upper or lower toolbars. The drop down menu that appears should contain “Drawing”, simply checkmark it and it shall appear. On this toolbar is a tilted shadowed blue “A”…this is the WordArt symbol. Right clicking on this A should bring up the WordArt Menu of which there are a number of styles to choose from. These allow you to choose words that are:
Choose the style you want and a text box will appear. In this textbox you can choose your font and size, as well as Italic or Bold. Then the text appears on your document. It is surrounded by little squares that enable you to further manipulate the appearance of the words…you can make the text larger, smaller, taller and skinnier, shorter and fatter, and by clicking and dragging directly on the letters you can move the text around the page. Double clicking on the letters will bring up the text box so that your text can be changed.
Further Manipulation can be achieved by using the Draw button on the Drawing toolbar…click on the letters to bring the little squares back around the letters…. then click on the Draw button to flip or rotate the letters.
If you have made more than one text box but would like to keep them where they are in respect to one another, you can use the ARROW on the Drawing toolbar, and draw a box around all the items. Then choose the Draw button and Group them. If you need to change one aspect again you can choose the group and under the Draw button you can Ungroup them.
You can also print out your words in a curve or circle. Choose WordArt and the curved letters. Pick your font and write your words in the textbox.
Click on your letters to bring up the little squares around them, then choose the “abc” from the Drawing Toolbar and pick the circle from that menu. Use the little squares to pull the circle to the shape you want. There are many, many effects you could choose from that menu…play around with them to pick the ones you like best!!
And we can place some writing inside of the circle by placing the circle of words in the background, and writing something different in the front ground. Afterwards, you can choose both items and group them, so that they will stay together! Setting words to background or foreground (foreground is the one you are working on…background is not) can be done by clicking the draw button and choose ‘Order’.
This type of effect can be used to make some interesting titles such as this:
Journaling
Journaling in general is a little easier, since to read it, less effect is added to it. That is not to say that you could not do your journaling in a great big circle…. just manipulate your journaling as you want it!!
The first thing to do is to measure on your layout how much space you have for journaling. Once you have that measurement you can go to your new Word document and place that document on Print Layout by going to View on the top toolbar and choosing Print Layout. This gives you the measurement on the top and left side of the document. By clicking and dragging you can move the margins into where you want, to fit the measurements of your page. If you have 3 inches X 4 inches available for journaling, move your margins to 3 inches wide by 4 inches high…using these scales. It makes it far easier to fit your journaling just right. Choose a font and size, and write your journaling.
Once your writing looks as you want it, you can manipulate the size of the font bigger or smaller to fit into the margins you set for it. I often print onto regular printer paper first; to make sure that it looks the way I want. Then I print onto my cardstock or vellum. Remember when printing on vellum, the ink dries slowly and can smear. If you wanted, at this point you could quickly sprinkle embossing powder on the wet ink and heat emboss it!
It is important to practice and play with your fonts and all the programs that they can be used in. Experiment with what you have available to you and you’ll find new and exciting things coming to you!
Being able to find, use and manipulate your fonts to use in your scrapbook is an invaluable skill that will serve you well in years to come.
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This site was last updated on December 31 1969 17:00:00.
Then, go to 'Settings', then 'Control Panel' and double click on 'Fonts'. Now, choose 'File' and 'Install New Font'. Finally, remember where you unzipped the font(s) and go to that directory. Select the font(s) and choose 'OK'. Note: The whole procedure might seem long and hard but after the first few times, you'll get used to it. 
