Kinds of Font

This chapter covers major relevant ways to classify fonts.

Hold On, Why The Funny Chapter Name?

The word “type” can mean at least five different things depending on the context:

• The idea of digital type (link to Google Fonts) and related stylistic choices

• A specific The Google Fonts Glossary page for typeface

• A Python type

• The act of typing on a device or computer

• Pre-digital movable type (link to Wikipedia)

Font Kinds: Overview

0. License

TL;DR: Ideally, you want the OFL or Public Domain (CC0).

The OFL and Public Domain have the least complications.

1. Symbol Fonts vs Everything Else

• For text sprite sheets, you usually want a regular text font

• For filler graphics, Symbol Fonts are best:

  • Dingbat fonts and :ref`Emoji fonts` are best

  • Math Fonts and Music fonts can be good too

2. File Formats

• bitmap formats (spritesheets, BDF, PCF, etc)

• vector formats

• Mostly TTF and OTF

• If you know about the others, you might be a wizard who doesn’t need this tool

3. The Code Points Covered

• Many encodings things have dedicated or de-facto Custom Code Point Ranges.

• Traditionally, Dingbat fonts don’t care:

  • They often hijack code points usually meant for other characters

  • This makes it easier to type their glyphs

4. Styles

Fonts can come in different weight and style variants if they aren’t cutting edge variable fonts. Some also have built-in color, a feature which Fontknife doesn’t support yet.

Tip

For low-res use, you’re usually better off with a pixel font in a bitmap format sucvh as:

• BDF

• PCF

• A sprite sheet