Where to get cool fonts?

[NandaDncer]

Where do you get more fonts from?

I have lots of cool fonts on my Mac but love the look of some of the arabesque script ones and was wondering what was the best way to increase your font collection.

Are there cd's full of fonts you can buy or can you purchase downloads from a particular site(s)?

Also what should I be looking for in usability in a font... is there any font qualities I should be wary of?

Cheers

[steffib]

myfonts.com has some nice ones.

And, if you google patiently for "arabic script font" and such, chances are that you will come across a review article for Arabic-ish fonts, which is very useful.

Some of the free fonts don't come with extra characters - which is not so ideal for somebody like me, whose name has an Umlaut ;-) For the rest - I have one fonts I bought from myfonts (I got the cheapest choice, and not the super-duper portable to all future operating systems version of the font that cost $$$), and it works just fine and dandy on my Mac.

[NandaDncer]

Cool... going to go check them out. Thanks :-)

[sabrinabellydancer]

i like http://www.fontdiner.com/
[no, i don't get commission ]
check out the "casino buffet" font set. it has some great fonts for bellydance
especially "mirage bazaar" and 'mirage zanzibar" [which i suspect were used on princess farhana's web site. just a hunch]

these are professional quality fonts suitable for graphic artist in most mediums. just make sure to download the right font set for your operating system ;)

also: if you use adobe software, you can buy fonts from them. they are not cheap but i believe they come with all the proper licensing for commercial use.

also:
http://www.fonts.com
http://www.freemacfonts.com/

also:
if you use a mac...pm me if you want

hope this helps

[dancingstar]

Originally Posted by sabrinabellydancer

i like http://www.fontdiner.com/

ooh, cool. i love fonts!

[*Shira*]

Originally Posted by NandaDncer

Also what should I be looking for in usability in a font... is there any font qualities I should be wary of?

You can purchase Adobe fonts at Adobe's web site, www.adobe.com . I haven't purchased fonts in a l-o-n-g time, so I can't comment on how their pricing compares to other sources. I think their Sanvito font is pretty for body text on flyers.

I like to use Black Chancery as a headline font on flyers. It's a widely-available free font, search by "black chancery" and you'll find a bunch of choices. Matura is nice for this too, but I think that's one you have to pay for.

Regarding font features, if you're using a Windows machine, the choices are typically TrueType and Postscript. If you have a new version of Windows (such as Vista), you can drag Postscript fonts into your font folder the same way you would a TrueType. I'm not sure whether that's possible on Windows XP or not - I haven't tried it there. I DO know that older versions of Windows such as Windows Millennium Edition and Windows 2000, and their predecessors, do NOT support dragging Postscript fonts into your font folder, you have to convert them to TrueType first. So buying a TrueType font is a sure thing on Windows, buying Postscript may or may not be okay depending on your Windows version.

Some fonts come with multiple versions, typically a bold version, an italic version, and a regular version. Sometimes there are other versions too, such as "Narrow", etc. You'll get the nicest looking results (and the most versatility with the software on your computer) if you get each of the versions available. Some software is "smart" enough to convert a regular font to italic simply by making it slant, whereas other software won't let you italicize text in that font unless you have the italic version installed. (This problem with needing all the components installed has been true in the past of Adobe products such as Illustrator and Photoshop, I don't know whether it's still true. In contrast, Microsoft Word will try to invent an italicized version on the fly for you.)

Some fonts come with accented characters, such as the letter "e" in the dance term plié, whereas often the free fonts don't come with those. So if this feature matters to you (it doesn't to everybody), then you should check how complete the character set is in the font you're buying.

[petgecko]

http://www.coolarchive.com/

tons of free fonts, plus other stuff like a button generator, logo generator, etc. Been loving that site since 1996

[steffib]

Ah, finally got myself to spend a minute googling, this is the best source of links Arabic-style fonts I have found. Personally, I like Pide Nashi a whole lot (and bought it).

http://cg.scs.carleton.ca/~luc/a-sim.html

[NandaDncer]

Oh wow, thanks guys :-) Bhuz comes through once again

Sabrina, I can't pm... can you email me shimmy at iinet dot net dot au ?

Shira, I read in a design book that's it's best - or more proper - to have the different varieties on the font rather than relying on a program to try to italic and bold for you... so in the interest of trying to do it right I plan to get the variations available.

Petgecko and Steffib... I am off now to spend a pleasant couple of hours gawking at fancy fonts...

[sabrinabellydancer]

Originally Posted by NandaDncer

Oh wow, thanks guys :-) Bhuz comes through once again

Sabrina, I can't pm... can you email me shimmy at iinet dot net dot au ?

emailed you