Identifying fonts, computing terms in text

Riches Communications Newsletter

Issue 13, February 2004

In this issue:

- Identifying fonts
- Computing terms in text
- Other web sites of interest

Identifying fonts

Fonts are used in logos or designs to add visual interest. Everyone can recognise a few fonts but there are literally thousands available. So if you see a font you like but don't know its name, how can you find out what it's called?

There are some clever tools available on the internet to help find out the name of a font. WhatTheFont is a service from myfonts.com, and allows users to upload an image in which the font is the main content. Through recognising letter shapes the system can suggest what font the text in the graphic may be.

If you have no luck there, try Identifont. By answering a series of questions about the letter shapes and features, you can gradually narrow down the list of fonts to a small group or a single font. It helps to have a full character set available but an identification can sometimes be made even if you only have a word or two in the unknown font.

The Adobe type library can also provide a few clues about a font. Fonts can be viewed by theme or style, or by the type of project a font is suitable for. It involves a bit of searching but it does allow you to view a large number of fonts on the screen at once.

Relevant links:

Adobe type library

fonts.com

International Typeface Corporation (ITC)

Computing terms in text

Computing terminology is becoming more mainstream, particularly with the increase in the use of technologies such as the internet and email. Although the industry continues to develop and change, there are standards that can be of assistance when writing about computers or internet usage.

For example, the 'World Wide Web' is a term that is a bit dated today. The global network is simply referred to as 'the Internet', or preferably 'the internet'. Variations such as 'the Net' are sometimes seen in more casual writing (not to be confused with the movie of the same name).

Due to the dots and slashes that often accompany email addresses and URLs, angle brackets can be used if there is a need to separate them from the surrounding text or punctuation marks e.g. <info@thisdomain.com> or <http://www.riches.com.au/>. In running text strong emphasis (bold) can also work.

When quoting a URL use the 'http://' suffix, particularly if sending a link via email. Some email programs don't display hyperlinks without the full address, and it also helps users if they want to cut and paste the link to a web browser. It's a good idea to place long URLs on a new line to minimise problems with links not working when wrapped across two lines of text.

An exception is in marketing material such as brochures or advertisements, where the suffix can look unsightly. In cases like this it is appropriate to write the URL as 'www.domain.com' or even 'domain.com' if your server can handle type-in requests for this domain (some can't). Domains are not case-sensitive, so a URL can be written as 'MyGreatCompany.com' and still work fine.

There are standard units of measurement and abbreviations for use in technology writing, such as kilobyte (kB, k or K), megabyte (MB), gigabyte (GB) and gigahertz (GHz). Strictly speaking, bits and bytes are based on powers of two so the standard base ten prefixes such as kilo and mega are not correct. For casual usage the errors in measurement that occur through this effect are minimal.

Other web sites of interest

iCapture - PC owners, see how your web site looks in Apple's Safari browser.

Bookmarklets - Free tools for power surfing with your browser

thecounter.com global stats - Statistics on current web browser stats such as screen resolution and software version