Fancy Free Fonts I Love and How to Install/Organize Fonts

I LOVE LETTERS!

Here is a list of a few fancy modern fonts. (If you see one you like and want, simply search for them by name and download them free.)   Below the list is a picture of what each one looks like by it’s name.

BY NAME:

Amazone BT (TT1040M_.TTF)

BahiaScriptSSK  (TTF)

Beautiful Caps ES  Swash Capitals

Belphebe

Blackadder ITC

Champignon

Civilian

Exmouth

French Script

Garamond Italic

Gayane StO Regular (first letter text)

HenryMorganHand

Hurricane (SupaDupaSerif)

Leafy glade (first letter text)

Leafyshade (first letter text)

Monotype Corsiva

Mutlu Ornamental

One Fell Swoop

Orphiel Demo

Here are a few I’m enjoying for use in my daughter’s scrapbook:

Feel free to right click|save to disk|print if the .jpg is something you can use for your own scrapbook.

HOW TO INSTALL THE FONTS ON YOUR COMPUTER:

The short explanation:

1.  Download the font.   It will be zipped.  Right click and extract it.  Open the zipped .tff file.

2.  Drag the .tff file into your Windows Fonts folder

It is now installed and ready for use.  Do not delete system fonts from your computer.

Suggestions:

• download all fonts to a file you name and can relocate easily later.  I use “My Downloaded Fonts” .
• unzip all your fonts at once.  I use a free program you can download like “UnZipThemAll” to unzip a bunch of files at one time, pronto.  Highly recommend it.
• leave your virus scanner enabled.  It should scan any downloaded files.  I use avast! free virus protection, home edition.
• some people choose to leave all “downloaded fonts” in a folder separate from their main system fonts to avoid confusing when thinning down later. A program I discussed earlier, AMP or Nexus will run UNinstalled fonts.  This keeps the Windows and other programs from getting too bogged down by running too many fonts.
• when downloading or installing, you do not “need” every version of every font:  for example, if  the program you are using converts the primary font to bold and italic for you, you don’t have to also install a font with four versions which include bold and italic.  This means that when you are using Word or Photoshop,  you won’t have to scroll passed four versions of the same font name to view the next font on the list.

Font Management Programs:

I have about 900 fonts.  I have used “The Font Thing” for many years to help give me a better visual of the exact text I want to see.  It works well.  Using that program, I have also sorted fonts by category to quickly find fonts needed.   Recently, I’ve transitioned to Windows 7, and this program doesn’t install easily on Windows 7 without a workaround (install program every time you want to use it, and no updating of this program).

Curious about other options, I’ve recently reviewed new Free Font Programs.  After a couple weeks of using several font programs, (AMP and Nexus), I think Nexus is my next font program manager.  Both are good, but Nexus seems to keep everything on horizontal text lines, which my mind seems to prefer.  AMP is good as well, but switches to a grid of boxes of fonts for some views.  It’s worth a try as well.

Here is the list of categories I have developed to sort my fonts.  I sort by file type, but also by what will cut well on my Cricut machine.  You should develop categories that make sense to you for your uses.

The categories I use are Cartoon (images of superman, etc.), Christmas, clear cut calligraphy (images that would cut clearly on a Cricut), Clear Cut Fonts (fonts that would cut well on a Cricut), Color & Print (for card-making, not cutting), Dingbat Clear Cut, Fancy Calligraphic, Fine Line Clear (clear, but needs to be made thicker in the cut program to cut well), Frames, Handwritten, Image Letters (letters that have other images on them), Labels, Tags, & Boxes, Music, and Ornamentals (generally not good for cutting).

“Sure Cuts a Lot” Font Cutting Program for Cricut:

I mentioned cutting fonts.  If you would like software that allows your Crucit to cut out of cardstock any font on your computer, try SCAL (Sure Cuts a Lot) for free trial.   Is great for sign-makers, teachers, scrapbookers, or automobiles decal makers.  You can even cut vinyl for windows and autos.

It’s currently on sale ($59.95 Limited Special Offer). Here’s a Baby Album Using Cricut and Sure Cuts a Lot where I downloaded elements off the internet for cutting, and here’s some projects where I used a lot of free fonts.  I prefer this to buying a cartridge for even $15.  Most often, the cartridges are $30-$60 per font.  I love this program and use it daily.  Updates are free, and the support community is great!  Click here to see some of my current projects using SCAL.

I plan to update this list within the week with even  more beautiful fonts I’m finding, so be sure to check back or subscribe by RSS feed so you don’t miss them.

Favorite Font Sites:

Here is  a great list of free font sites from the blog Cutting Time.  My all-time fav is probably hers as well: www.dafont.com.  It’s very well organized and easy to scan for new fonts.

My Review of Free Font Management Programs for Windows 7

A review of three free font programs for Windows 7.

Three Free Font Management Programs:

1. The Font Thing (not for Windows 7, but a workaround can make it useable).
2. Amp Font Viewer
3. Nexus Font Manager

My Uses:

• Publishing
• Scrapbooking
• Cutting with SCAL (Sure Cuts a Lot) and my Cricut personal cutting system.

My Needs:

1. View uninstalled fonts
2. Temporary Font installation
3. View File Categories of Fonts I Have Previously Set Up (not in Windows/Font folder)
4. View multiple fonts in the folders at a time for comparison
5. Run on Windows 7
6. Free
7. Ease of use

Background:

I have Windows 7 set up on two new computers and don’t want to bog down my Windows and Photoshop Elements programs with fonts I only use Occasionally.  I would like to find a way to have fonts available for temporary use.  Windows recommends no more than 500 fonts for smooth sailing.  I had 800 on my last computer.  No real glitches, but PSE took forever to load.  I have not yet tested how all this impacts PSE, but will do so and add to this at a later time.

I researched free font programs and felt these three were the top contenders for my first installation.

I also am not sure how this will work with Sure Cuts a Lot, but I do not appreciate the small size of their internal font viewer, nor that I cannot sort fonts by type for cutting.  I am hoping this will assist me in scrolling through a list of 900 fonts in that program.

1.  The Font Thing

I have always used TFT, but was reading about incompatability with Windows 7.  Upon further research, I found that the installation is actually the only incompatible part, so if you are willing to just download the .exe file and not the installation (installing the program each time you want to use it (your font information is preserve), it will work for you.  It takes no longer to instal than it did to start the program before.  So, you are working around the auto instal by running the .exe file when :you want to use it instead of having the program actually installed in “my programs”.

Limitations of this program:

• it hasn’t been updated since 1999
• it won’t read Open Source fonts (my cutting program, SCAL, won’t cut them anyway, so not a huge drawback for my use)
• it won’t locate uninstalled font folders–a biggie for me because I don’t want to install all my fonts this go-round.  I just want them on hand for temporary installation when I need them to keep from bogging down systems and programs.

So, on to the next download to experiment…

2.  Amp Font Viewer

This program automatically detects folders within a folder when the main folder where the fonts are loaded is found.  It keeps those folders shown as  “categories” of fonts for me without having to install each subfolder.

It offers the ability to temporarily install fonts when you have the file, or entire category open.  You can uninstall them later, or simply close the program to have them uninstall.

AMP has a great preview page where you can view three rows of fonts simultaneously.  Handy feature.

3. Nexus Font Manager

This program looks nice on the screen, not that it matters to me as long as it’s functional, but a nice perk.

I found it tricky to figure out how to get my uninstalled font folder “categories” , but it’s do-able.  (Under View, deselect “include all subfolders”).  Enter a title for your category (I used My Fonts), then import each individual sub folder one at a time.  This method of font file preserves your file heirarchy so in the even the font software crashes requiring a reinstall, you don’t risk having to recategorize 800 fonts.  Similar to AMPs process.

This program shows all fonts in my folder in a pane, which is very nice.

Currently, I cannot see my full list of categories without scrolling due to the program wanting to give me font foundry information  I don’t need.    If I can figure out how to customize my screen to allow that, it will be nice.

Like AMP, it allows temporary installation of fonts, and uninstallation when the program is closed.

This is a very sharp program, well presented.

So far, I like both programs for different reasons.  I’ll have to use them both a while to see which one works best for me.  Stay tuned!