Amazing Tips - More FREE Fonts

More FREE Fonts

More Sites to get Great FREE Fonts for Downloading

When I recently posted about Google's great free fonts, the page hits went through the roof. Clearly fonts, especially free fonts, are a popular subject. Since my initial post I became aware of a few more sites you might want to visit.

Once you find a new font they are easy to install. Here's how to do it.

1. Click the download option.
2. When the file finishes downloading, open the file. The files will be zipped (.zip) or compressed files. 
3. When you open the zip file you will see a file with the font name. This will either be a TrueType or OpenType file type. Double click on the font file.
4. Click the Install button.

That's it! The next time you go into any of your programs you will see the new font(s) in the font list!

Directions for installing the fonts is at the end of this post.

FontSquirrel

FontSquirrel font filters.

According to the FontSquirrel website, "Free fonts have met their match. We know how hard it is to find quality freeware that is licensed for commercial work. We've done the hard work, hand-selecting these typefaces and presenting them in an easy-to-use format." They have hundreds of fonts available for download. Click the filter options on the right side of the screen to limit your search. The fonts are "100% free for Commercial Use". This is important because it means you can use it in your newsletters, books and other commercial endeavors. 

DaFont
It's not very clear on DaFont if the fonts are really free or not or if they're appropriate for commercial use. They say: "The fonts presented on this website are their authors' property, and are either freeware, shareware, demo versions or public domain. The license mentioned above the download button is just an indication. Please look at the readme-files in the archives or check the indicated author's website for details, and contact him if in doubt. 

If no author/license is indicated that's because we don't have information, that doesn't mean it's free.”

Each download contains a readme file that you need to check out before you use their fonts in commercial documents.

FontSpace

FontSpace claims that they have over 23,532 fonts that are all free and have been "shared by designers around the world." With that many fonts available, you should find just the perfect characters for your next flyer/invitation/newsletter/website or to just write a memorable letter to the power company.

These may not look like fonts but they are! These are all example of "dingbat" fonts. Of course you wouldn't write a letter in dingbats but they can be very useful nonetheless. 

Also available from FontSpace are fonts that result in decorative lines. These lines can then be used on wedding invitations, brochures, newsletters or anywhere else you want to add an attractive divider. Here's an example of some of the types of "lines" you can create using the Foglihten Deco font. Pretty cool, right? You can see that the three wavy lines are created from the same letter, the number 1, combined with other letters. The results are endless.

My biggest problem was choosing which fonts to install, I felt like the proverbial kid in a candy shop. Enjoy your new fonts!

My book, 100 Amazing Computer Tips - Shortcuts, Tricks, and Advice to Help Everyone from Novice to Professional, is available NOW at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble in both print ($14.99) and ebook ($7.99) formats. There's also a handy link on top right side of this window for your shopping convenience..

Happy computing!

Diane

Don't forget to click the Subscribe to 100 Computer Tips in 100 Days via email link on the right side of the screen so you get email alerts when Diane adds a new post.

Amazing Tip - Personalizing Bullets

Personalizing Bullets - The safe kind!

Bullets in Word, PowerPoint and Publisher

Bullets in documents have been around for a long time. I remember using them on typewritten documents but in those days the characters used for bullets were very limited. Typically you would type an asterisk (now called a star), a plus, a dash or the lower case "o". I once had a boss who liked the look of a filled in o, the one that we have become familiar with since the advent of word processors, but to achieve that look I had to take a black pen and fill the o's in by hand and then photo copy the document. Yeah, he was one of my favorite bosses!

Today we use bullets all the time in Word, PowerPoint and Publisher documents (as well as other programs) and don't think much about our choices. Microsoft has given us a variety of bullets that we can select from when we click the down arrow to the right of the insert bullets command (see photo on right). They're great but suppose you wanted something special. Maybe you're a realtor and you'd like a house for a bullet or you're a painter and you'd like a paint brush, well we have those available too, you just need to click the Define New Bullet link.

In the dialog box that appears do the following:

1. Click the Symbol option
2. Click in the font box to change the font to Webdings, Wingdings, Wingdings 2, Wingdings 3 or ZDingbats.
3. Use the preview screen to choose a cool new bullet. Don't forget to scroll up and down the preview screen, there are about 12 rows of bullets in each font.

When you've identified your new bullet click OK a few times to return to your document. There it is, your great new customized bullet! This is one of the reasons why you have fonts such as the "ding" fonts listed above. If you had explored them previously you might have wondered about their use.

If you're interested in the origin of the word dingbat as it relates to these special characters and their use in typography, there's an interesting explanation on WiseGeek.com. If you really love fonts and want to see and buy more, I suggest you go to myfonts.com. They have an amazing selection of fonts that are fairly priced. You can also do a search for "free fonts" and you'll be able to add some cool selections to your font stash. You can also subscribe to their monthly newsletter where they introduce new fonts and feature font designers. Wouldn't it be a more interesting world if we could get people to move beyond Times New Roman, Ariel and Comic San in their documents?

The pictures accompanying these directions were taken in Word 2010. The dialog boxes may differ slightly in PowerPoint and Publisher and on the Apple version of these programs, but I think you can navigate now that you know it's possible to personalize your bullets.

My book, 100 Amazing Computer Tips - Shortcuts, Tricks, and Advice to Help Everyone from Novice to Professional, is available NOW at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble in both print and ebook formats. There's also a handy link on top right side of this window.

Happy Computing!

Diane

Don't forget to click the Subscribe to 100 Computer Tips in 100 Days via email link on the right side of the screen so you get email alerts when Diane adds a new post.

Want more tech news or interesting links? You'll get plenty of both if you keep up with Diane McKeever, the author of 100 Computer Tips in 100 Days, by subscribing to her Facebook posts or visiting her web page, www.dianemckeever.com. 

Amazing Tips book now available

Amazing Tips, the book, has been released!

I am pleased and excited to announce that my book, 100 Amazing Computer Tips, is finally available from Amazon in both print and ebook formats.

The book is based on the top 100 tips in this blog, which were reorganized and expanded. In addition I included printable tip cards for many of the popular software programs.

100 Amazing Computer Tips is the first in a series of Amazing Tips books that will be developed on a wide variety of subjects. I will be writing many of the computer based books but am looking for writers to author books on other topics. The Amazing Tips books could become the new Dummies series...but for smart sophisticated people like you! If you, or anyone you know, would like to be considered for the Amazing Tips series, please contact me.

You can go to Amazon.com NOW and make your choice there between the print and ebook formats. The print version is 14.99 and the downloadable ebook version is 7.99. If you've already bought a book, thank you. I hope you would consider reviewing it on Amazon for me. Your feedback is important.

Happy Computing!

Diane

Don't forget to click the Subscribe to 100 Computer Tips in 100 Days via email link on the right side of the screen so you get email alerts when Diane adds a new post.

Want more tech news or interesting links? You'll get plenty of both if you keep up with Diane McKeever, the author of 100 Computer Tips in 100 Days, by subscribing to her Facebook posts or visiting her web page, www.dianemckeever.com .