Fonts How-Tos

Use Any Font in a Web Site Design

There have always been two certainties in Web design: You can never have enough bandwidth, and all Web design must rely entirely on fonts installed on the viewer’s computer. But thanks to sIFR, at least one of these so-called inescapable certainties is wrong.

Create Clipping Paths without Photoshop

Here's how to cut out an image using only QuarkXPress.

Illustrator Type Tricks: A Frolic on the Far Side

These techniques for "enhancing" your type will have your mild-mannered fonts cowering in fear as you take them to places they dared not ever go.

dot-font: Importing Text

Learn how to import text into a page-layout program and have it come out the way you want it.

Better Type in Photoshop

Got questions about creating, committing, managing, masking, filtering, or otherwise transforming type in Photoshop? Want quick answer to those questions? I thought so!

dot-font: The Best Brochure Fonts

Learn how to choose and use the right typeface for a brochure, flyer, or small booklet.

Think Outside the Font Box

Some typefaces are only for text and some are only for display, right? Not necessarily. Follow these tips and you'll be able to extend your type library.

dot-font: Using Expert Characters and Expert Sets

For elegant, readable text, try the typographic refinements of expert sets and extra characters.

Quark How-To: Fill Type with Artwork in QuarkXPress

How would you fill type with artwork or imagery? Would you do it in Photoshop or Illustrator? If the artwork-filled type is going to end up in a QuarkXPress layout, why worry about transparency, clipping path, or image preview issues? Instead, you can fill the type directly within XPress.

Design How-To: Choose the Right Typeface Every Time

Flashy typefaces are fun, but when you design something with large blocks of text, you need a font that doesn't tire your readers. We share our favorites and reveal easy tricks for identifying other suitable choices.

Web How-To: Tricks for Timeless Type

Combine a less-is-more philosophy and basic CSS and what do you get? Type that elegantly conveys a mood. Learn how you can do the same.

Printing Tips: Designing for Digital Presses

Designers appreciate the flexibility of digital presses that let them print shorter four-color runs. But choices of paper and preparation of files require special care. Find out what you need to know.

Illustrator How-To: Using Stroke Offsets for Depth Effects

Adding strokes to type lends definition to text, but adding offset strokes adds dimension to text. In this video tutorial, Deke McClelland shows how to use the Transform Effect feature in Illustrator CS to add depth to text.

Design How-To: Adding Photographic Texture to Type

Filling outline type with texture is one way to add character to display text. It's easy to make your own textures from any old photo in Photoshop. Here's how.

Design How-To: Discover the Logo in Your Name

Even the most mundane name has an interesting logo lurking inside it. The key to unlocking it is looking at the letter-shapes themselves. Here's how to turn letters into logos.

Printing Tips: Avoiding Prepress Bloopers

Want to make your prepress operator smile? Try delivering files that are error free. Here are the most-common file-preparation errors, according to printing colossus RR Donnelley.

Acrobat Tips: Fonts Can Make or Break PDFs

Acrobat's intelligent font substitution is a godsend for office documents, but it can be a nightmare in situations where font fidelity is important. If you're a graphic designer, then you need to know how to work with fonts in PDFs. PlanetPDF has the answers.

Font Fatigue: Pruning Excess Fonts in Mac OS X

Managing your font libraries in Mac OS X is a multi-step process. The first of these was knowing where to look. The second, covered here, is getting rid of duplicates and stashing them in places where they can do no harm. OS X-transition consultant Chuck Weger shows you how.

Design How-To: Making a Distinctive Monogram

A monogram is more than a $5 option on an oxford-cloth shirt. It's an individual stamp, your own personal logo, and a mark of distinction. Making a memorable monogram for personal or business use isn't that difficult, if you keep a few design principles in mind.

InDesign How-To: Applying Character Formats

Want to learn more about InDesign's font controls? Then take a look at the character palette. As this excerpt from "Real World InDesign 2" shows, it holds the key to unlocking InDesign's typographic power.