Font Terminology
The language of font management can be a bit confusing. Here is a quick reference of terms you might encounter while using FontAgent for Windows.
Font Files and Technology
dfont
Same type of font format as a Mac TrueType font except the information is stored in the data fork instead of the resource fork. You can find dfonts in some of the system font folders in macOS. The dfont file format is not recognized by Windows, nor by FontAgent for Windows.
format
Font files are stored in various file formats. Windows supports Windows TrueType, OpenType and Type 1 PostScript. It does not support fonts in Mac TrueType or dfont format.
OpenType
OpenType is a modern font file format whose filetype is .otf. An OpenType font can contain many more glyphs (characters) than older font file formats. They can also contain Type 1 PostScript outlines for Mac and Windows as well as TrueType outlines for Mac and Windows, making OpenType a powerful cross-platform format.
preview
A font preview is a rendering of a font in its native typeface on your computer display that you use to compare and select fonts for use in your workflow.
printer font
A printer font is an outline font file or, more accurately, a PostScript Type 1 file. These files are used to render the font on a printer, but not a computer display.
screen font
A screen font is a collection of bitmap files used by PostScript Type 1 fonts to display the font on a computer display, but not on a printer.
subscription fonts
You can license fonts through subscription services such as Adobe Typekit and Monotype SkyFonts. When you activate fonts using those services, they appear in FontAgent where you can preview them and assign them to sets.
TrueType
TrueType fonts use a single .ttf file to store data that represents fonts as mathematical outlines. Macintosh computers recognized both Mac and Windows TrueType fonts. Windows also supports TrueType Collection (.ttc) files, but Macs do not. FontAgent for Windows supports both .ttf and .ttc formats.
Type 1 PostScript
An legacy font format that is no longer available for purchase from font vendors. The data for a PostScript Type 1 font is spread through various files, making it easy to lose important information. Type 1 fonts for Macintosh cannot be used on Windows computers. Microsoft has dropped support for Windows Type 1 fonts in MS Office and .Net C# applications, making Type 1 a increasingly questionable choice for use in documents.
Typography
ascender
An ascender is the part of characters that extend above the x-height line, such as the top of the lower-case d or b.
baseline
The imaginary line upon which characters appear to rest. In reality, the bottoms of curved letters like c, o, u, and s extend slightly below the baseline. Other characters like the lower-case g, j and p have descenders that extend below the baseline by significant amounts.
bold
A style of a font that is heavier than its regular, normal or roman style.
black
A style of a font that is heavier than bold. Synonyms include heavy and extra bold.
compressed
A compressed style of a font is one in which the width of each character in the font is less than its regular or normal style. In other words, the aspect ratio of the font appears to be more vertical, allowing you to fit more text on a line. Also known as condensed or narrow in some font families.
condensed
A condensed style of a font is one in which the width of each character in the font is less than its regular or normal style. In other words the aspect ratio of the font appears to be more vertical, allowing you to fit more text on a line. Also known as compressed or narrow in some font families.
descender
The part of a character that extends below the baseline of a font, such as the extensions of the lower-case p, g or j.
family
A font family is a group of fonts of the same design. For example, the family Times contains Times-Plain, Times-Bold, Times-Italic, etc.
foundry
The foundry is the name of the organization that created or published the font. A font's foundry often appears in the name of the font, such as Adobe Caslon Pro.
glyph
An individual letter, number, or symbol in a font's character set. For example, G, 9, and @ are glyphs. The term character is often used as a synonym for glyph.
italic
Style of a font that is slanted from the font's normal or regular style, though some fonts have only an italic style. Also known as slanted or oblique in some font families.
kerning
The amount of space between characters. Graphic designers sometimes adjust kerning to change how light or dense text appears or to make the text fit into a specific space. Fonts usually contain kerning pairs, which define how close specific letter combinations should appear when rendered.
leading
The amount of space between successive lines in a block or paragraph of text. Unlike kerning, leading is not part of a font's metadata, but is instead specified and controlled by the application rendering the font.
license
A font license details the usage rights that purchasers of fonts must abide by when they license fonts from type designers and foundries.
light
A style of a font that is uses a thinner stroke weight than the font's normal weight. Also known as thin style in some font families.
narrow
The style of a font in which the width of each character in the font is less than its regular or normal style. Therefore, the aspect ratio of the font is more vertical, allowing you to fit more text on a line. Also known as compressed or condensed in some font families.
normal
The base style of a font that is not italicized, bolded nor condensed. Also known as regular or roman in some font families.
oblique
An oblique style of a font is slanted from the font's normal or regular style. Also known as italic or slanted in some font families.
regular
The regular style of a font is not italicized, bolded nor condensed. Also known as roman or normal in some font families.
roman
The roman style of a font is not italicized, bolded nor condensed. Also known as regular or normal in some font families.
sans serif
A font design that does not include small lines or projections at the end of strokes in a character. Also known as grotesque style fonts. Examples of sans serif fonts including Helvetica, Arial and Futura.
serif
A font design that includes small lines or projections that finish strokes in a character. Also known as roman style fonts. Examples of serif fonts include Times Roman, Garamond and Palatino.
slanted
A slanted style of a font is slanted from the font's normal or regular style. Also known as italic or oblique in some font families.
style
A style is a single font that describes a specific variant of a font family such as Myriad Semibold Italic or Arial Bold.
thin
A style of a font that is uses a lighter stroke weight than the font's normal weight. Also known as light style in some font families.
weight
The weight of a font refers to the stroke thickness in its character glyphs. Font designers express weights as terms such as bold, regular or thin, or as a numeric value such as 300 (thin), 400 (book or regular), 500 (semibold), 600 (bold) or 700 (extra bold or black).
x-height
The x-height of a font is the vertical distance between the baseline of a font and the top of the lower-case-x glyph (as well as the u, v, w and z glyphs) expressed as a percentage of the overall height of the font. Therefore, a higher x-height percentage means that the upper- and lower-case glyphs are closer in height.
FontAgent and Font Management
activation
Activating a font makes the font available for use. By activating only the fonts you need, you improve system performance, save system resources, and preserve the usability of Font menus in applications.
auto-activation
Automatic activation of fonts that occurs when you open a document containing the fonts. FontAgent includes auto-activation plugins for selected Adobe Creative Cloud apps.
comments
FontAgent allows you to enter and search descriptions for fonts and how they are used in your projects.
Compare View
Displays sample text in multiple fonts for easy side-by-side comparison. Displays the fonts in a text string, size and colors selected by you.
Fonts Control Panel
The Fonts Control Panel is the default location where Windows stores fonts. Fonts stored in the Control Panel are often referred to as System Fonts. Some of those fonts are required for the Windows operating system to run correctly and the OS does not permit you to move them. When you use FontAgent, you can move all non-required fonts out of the Control Panel and import them into FontAgent.
Glyphs View
Displays the character set of the currently selected font.
Import History
A series of sets created automatically by FontAgent each time you import a new group on fonts. You can use Import History sets to maintain a log of your imported fonts, to manage fonts by project or job, and to undo the effects of an errant import request.
List View
The List View displays fast previews of fonts in their native typefaces.
nested sets
Sets that contain other subsets, allowing users to organize fonts in a hierarchy.
Player View
Plays a slide show of currently selected fonts one-at-a-time in the bottom pane of FontAgent. Displays each font in a text string, size and color you select.
Player Set
Collection of fonts created by users of the Player View as they mark their favorite fonts in a slide show.
preview
Display of a text string in the native glyph outlines of a selected font. FontAgent clients let you preview fonts in your choice of text, colors and sizes.
rating
A one- to- five-star rating given to a font by users of FontAgent clients so they can find their favorite fonts easily.
set
Logical associations of fonts used to organize your fonts based on customer, project, font style, foundry, or anything else that helps your workflow.
shared font
In FontAgent Sync and Connected Editions, a font that has been uploaded to the server and made available to other FontAgent users.
smart set
Dynamic collection of fonts that match one or more rules that you specify. Updates automatically as you add and delete fonts in your FontAgent database.
startup set
A set whose fonts activate when FontAgent launches.
system fonts
In Windows, system fonts are stored in the Fonts Control Panel. Some system fonts are required by Windows to run and must be active at all times. Windows prohibits you from moving or deactivating required system fonts. You can move non-required fonts out of the Fonts Control Panel and import them into FontAgent.
Table View
The Table view displays fonts and their metadata in a table of rows and columns that is handy for quickly searching and sorting fonts by their characteristics.
tags
Descriptive, sharable words that you associate with a font. Examples include keywords that describe projects, classification, topics or design uses.
Tile View
The Tile View displays currently selected fonts in a grid of tiles that show sample font glyphs in their native WYSIWYG typefaces, font format and activation status.
waterfall
Custom text in the Player View. Displays the same line of text in increasingly larger type sizes.
WYSIWYG
Stands for what you see is what you get. Refers to FontAgent's ability to display fonts in their native outlines rather than as unformatted text.