On a computer, a font is a set of characters which all have the same style of design.
TrueType® fonts are the standard for fonts used by computer programs. OpenType® fonts are similar to TrueType® fonts but with extra features such as an extended character set.
This was the first widely used font standard in the computer industry, originally as a way of having standard fonts for computers and printers. These are also known as Adobe® Type 1 fonts. mySewnet™ QuickFont does not support Postscript Type 1 fonts.
Many fonts are supplied with separate style definitions, for example Regular, Bold, Italic and Bold Italic.
There are various factors that will increase or decrease the complexity of a font. Extremely complex fonts will convert rather slowly, especially if converting to Satin.
Serifs are the small slabs, blocks, caps or other detail that are placed on the ends of character arms, and sometimes also at corners. Serifs generally give a more old fashioned or formal feel to a font. The classic serif font is Times Roman.
Serif fonts work well using a Pattern Fill Stitch Type.
This literally means "without serif". The most well known sans serif font is Arial. Sans serif fonts are generally very clean and usually plain.
Sans serif fonts work well using all Stitch Types.
This is used to refer to flowing fonts similar to handwriting. These are generally smooth, but have complex curly details. These are relatively slow to convert to Satin, but only the most complex fonts will give problems.
Stencil fonts have the letters broken up into several sections. If you use a stencil font, the separate parts of each letter will be connected with movement stitches.
This can be used for various effects, such as drop shadow, cut out effects, and so on. These types of fonts are generally the most complex and the most likely to produce unexpected results with mySewnet™ QuickFont. Symbol fonts also use multiple outlines for some of their shapes.
A symbol font does not have a standard alphabet and numbers that you would use for text in any language. Instead, symbol fonts allow a variety of shapes to be included in the normal text of a document and treated as normal text. Symbol fonts provide shapes such as bullets, checkmarks, zodiac signs and so on. A well known example is Wingdings.
The shapes in a symbol font may also vary in size within a single font. The size of converted fonts is set by specifying the height of the uppercase letter A, or whichever symbol or character occupies its position in the font. This may affect your converted symbols if the symbol corresponding to the letter A is much smaller or larger than other symbols in the font. If your symbols convert to unexpectedly small or large sizes, compare the symbols by selecting the font in a word processor and typing on your keyboard. Type in A and some other letters to see how the corresponding shapes differ in size from the shape for A. Alternatively, type in some letters in a normal font then select the letters and change them to the required symbol font.
Symbol fonts work well using Pattern Fill and Outline Stitch Types. Only those characters in a Symbol Font that correspond to the chosen character set are converted.
Some characters in some fonts are made of overlapping shapes. This is not noticeable when printed, because the solid colors that are used for the fonts hide the overlap. However, this may appear when using Satin Border. This most commonly occurs with K, k and the cedilla character (ç).